


A Bizarre Plan to Capture a Heart

by Lightheaded_Dullahan



Series: An Odd Little Plan [1]
Category: Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Comedy, Multi, Romantic Comedy, at least i hope it is, heads up some characters are only mentioned right now but play a bigger role later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2019-08-04 23:24:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 45,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16356281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lightheaded_Dullahan/pseuds/Lightheaded_Dullahan
Summary: Alternate Title: In Which I Try to Counteract The Sadness From D8ONO's Beneath SeriesWith that, he had backed Siegfried into a corner. He couldn’t just deny Arjuna the help he requested, but he was also worried just what the teen had planned. He did hang out with Medb. In the end, Siegfried relented and accepted the task. The smile that broke out on Arjuna’s face was slightly unsettling.





	1. An Unlikely Teamup

**Author's Note:**

> Another Alternate Title: Spend An Hour Unsure If I Should Post This or Not

Karna started his day off the usual way. Wake up to make breakfast, shower, pack for school, take care of the dead body on the couch, make sure his brother was awake for school, and then head out himself. Currently, he was dealing with the fourth thing on the morning to-do-list. Today was unique in that there was now a large red stain on the couch that would not get cleaned in time for him to still make it to school on time. When he returned with a plate of food, the body groaned out a protest from having the blanket taken away.

 

“Huh? What?”

 

“Cleaning, up.” Karna pulled the other teenager up off the couch.

 

Cu Chulainn, the ‘dead body’, was still groggy as he sat on the floor and ate his breakfast. This was the third week he had crashed at his friend’s house, not that Karna minded. His brother was a different story, he made his displeasure with the situation very vocal. It didn’t do much to his continued dismay.

 

“Ou, sorry about the mess,” Cu apologized as he finished his plate of pancakes.

 

“It’s fine. You should have taken off your jacket before sleeping though.”

 

Yesterday, Cu was helping out the drama club and had to carry a lot of fake blood packs for the actor who was supposed to be stabbed in the play. He still had one when he crashed on Karna’s couch at around midnight. Cu had been out like a light the moment he hit the pillow, so he hadn’t noticed the bag being crushed under him. Now, his clothes were stained just as badly as the couch.

 

“Yeah, yeah. I can use the spare clothes right?” The question simply got a nod in response as the white-haired teen stripped the couch of its covers. Thankfully it hadn’t stained too deeply, meaning he just had to throw a blanket over the bare cushions until the covers were cleaned.

 

Karna looked up to see his brother staring with narrowed eyes at the red-stained couch cover from the doorway to the living room. He walked away from the doorway, never once moving his eyes from the fake blood stain. Karna sighed, he wasn’t looking forward to the conversation that would come up from this.  
-  
-  
-  
“Aa, thank you for helping,” Brynhild smiled. She had wanted to surprise Sigurd today, which lead her to call his brother to help her set everything up. That would seem quite normal if she hadn’t called Siegfried at 1 in the morning to meet at the school and hadn’t kept switching the flowers with knives before switching back again. It hadn’t helped that Sigurd almost walked in on the whole thing before it was ready, Brynhild had thrown one of the knives she switched out for flowers to stop him from entering the room.

 

“It’s not a problem, is there anything else you need me to do?”

 

“No, this shall be perfect. Aa, should it have another knife here…?”

 

Siegfried gently pulled the knife away from her grasp, this room didn’t need anymore knives hidden in flower bouquets. Not only that, but he had to borrow a number of them from the cooking club after Brynhild had run out of her own. He should at least return the remaining knives as to not inconvenience the club any further.

 

After returning the remaining three knives, and apologizing about the other fifteen, Siegfried made it to class with mere seconds to spare. The teacher, Scathach, huffed and ticked off the box next to his name as ‘present’ instead of ‘tardy’. The same could not be said of Cu who rushed in nearly a minute after the bell rang. She ticked the ‘tardy’ box and with that, sealed Cu’s lunchtime fate. 

You could hear the exact moment his heart stopped beating at the smirk the teacher sent his way once he sat down. He wouldn’t make it past the second period at this rate.  
-  
-  
-  
Once the bell rang for lunch after the third class of the day, no one could seem to find Cu anywhere. Sometime during the class, he had disappeared. Scathach had no idea where he was herself, interrogating any student that might possibly know where the student went. Even Medb, the Cu stalker she was, had no idea where he had gone.

 

Medb lamented, loudly, about this to Arjuna, who was seriously wondering why he was associating with this girl when she went on and on about her ‘Cu-chan’. He just wanted to eat his lunch in peace. Now, he could always just get up and leave, but it would be rude to do that to his friend- even if he still questioned why they were friends. Though, his patience was wearing very thin.

 

“I mean, just look at my body! It’s so pretty and perfect! How could he keep rejecting me like this…” Medb whined as she tore at her bread, “I just hate it!”

 

“Ah, really? I would have never guessed.” The sarcasm went right over Medb’s head.

 

“He’s just so cruel…”

 

With his lunch finished, Arjuna decided this was the time to leave. Mebd was so deep into her complaining she hadn’t noticed him leaving with his bag in hand. He was not about to spend his lunch listening to someone complain. No, he was going to spend his lunch making his brother listen to his complaints. He saw no irony or hypocrisy in his decision, after all, his complaints were valid.  
-  
-  
-  
That would have been Arjuna’s plan, expect Karna was busy with that hikikomori friend of his. He was speaking to her over video chat as she barely left her room. Besides Cu, she was someone who would crash at their place for weeks on end. She paid rent when she stayed, actually no, she paid Karna to go get her snacks or new games while she stayed held up in their guest room. While his brother might accept the situation, he found it as annoying as when Cu continually crashed at their house without warning. Arjuna looked over Karna’s shoulder to see she was showing him the newest game she convinced him to buy her.

 

Jinako must have noticed him behind Karna, for she slowed down her speech while staring right at him. The two of them had never gotten along. Karna followed her gaze to Arjuna’s scowling face. This was the conversation he had been dreading all day.

 

“Yes? What is it Arjuna?”

 

“We need to talk.”

 

A sigh, “I’ve promised Jinako to talk about her new games, she still has two more to show me. We can talk later.”

 

Karna didn’t let him respond, he simply turned back to the screen with Jinako continuing to talk about her games. It took a moment for the situation to register for Arjuna. Had...had Karna just wave him off? He stood in shock before walking off in complete confusion. Never once had Karna done something like this before, never once had Karna’s attention be on anything but him when he was talking to him. Something had to be very wrong, Arjuna decided right then and there.

 

And that was completely unacceptable.  
-  
-  
-  
The final bell rang out, signaling that school was finally over. Karna had said goodbye to Gil and Ozy, all three of them barely escaping getting an after-school detention. In Ozy’s defense, Gil had convinced Karna to go along with the plan while Ozy got dragged along to stop Karna from going overboard. Thankfully, the teacher was unable to give them the punishment before the bell rang, letting the three of them get away scot-free.

 

Currently, Karna was waiting at the entrance for his brother. He had been preoccupied with other people all day, so he had yet to hear Arjuna’s complaints. Which meant he was going to have to hear them on the way home. Really, he was not ready to deal with that at all today, but he had waved off his brother three separate times today so he had to hear him out at this point  
.  
“Ah, Karna, there you are,” Siegfried called out to him.

 

Karna’s mouth curved into a small smile, he hadn’t been able to speak with his friend all day. It was nice to finally talk, even if he would be pulled away by his brother at any minute.

 

“Has Brynhild finally let you out of her grasp?” The whole school had heard about Siegfried getting dragged around by the girl to make everything perfect for Sigurd’s surprise. Right before lunch, she had pulled him aside to help her cook the perfect meal for his brother. Then during the last class, she had asked him to bring Sigurd through a confusing little maze to the room she used for the surprise. It had been quite tiring, but seeing the two of them happy together made it worth it.

 

“Thankfully yes, I’d hate to third wheel their relationship.”

 

Karna nodded, “At least the cooking club has a valid reason to request more knives now.”

 

“I still don’t know what’s she’s done with the fifteen she’s borrowed…”

 

The two lapsed into a comfortable silence, that was how their conversations went until one of them finally thought of another subject to talk about. It worked well for them, considering neither had the best social skills.

 

“Right...There was something I wanted to-”

Siegfried was cut off by a loud ringing coming from Karna’s pocket. Pulling out his phone, Karna apologized before answering. It was his friend Helena. She, in a bit of a panic, had asked him to quickly check the library to see if she had left Edison, her cat, there. Why she brought him to school was a mystery.

 

Karna excused himself, saying he would be right back. This was how, not a minute later, Arjuna found Siegfried waiting in the spot his brother usually did. The fact his brother was not there was slightly infuriating, was he actually trying to avoid the inevitable conversation about this morning?

 

“Oi, where’s my brother?”

 

“Sorry, he had to check on something for a friend...ah, and I was just about to-no, nevermind. Sorry.”

 

Arjuna wasn’t dense like his older brother, he could piece together what Siegfried had planned to say to his brother. After all, living with someone who barely emoted allowed him to quickly pick up any emotions that flashed up before it disappeared. He at first thought this was yet another person who would steal his brother’s attention away from him until he had a second thought. He could easily turn this situation in his favor, while not the most honorable plan it would get him his desired result. Yes, he could work with this.

 

“I see, well, then I suppose you won’t mind if I request something of you?”

 

He knew Siegfried wouldn’t refuse, his brother had the same annoying habit, this was just a formality.  
“Hm? What do you need?”

 

“We both seem to be in a place to be mutually benefited if we worked together, so I propose we do just that.”

 

“I...don’t think I follow. Sorry.”

 

Arjuna let out an exaggerated sigh, “We both want Karna’s attention in a way that doesn’t overlap, so, if we work together we can both get what we want.”

 

Siegfried paused a moment before shaking his head, “No, it’s fine.”

 

“Well then, I shall just ask you to help me with my plan that leaves us both mutually benefited.” He was not about to let this opportunity slip through his fingers.

 

With that, he had backed Siegfried into a corner. He couldn’t just deny Arjuna the help he requested, but he was also worried just what the teen had planned. He did hang out with Medb. In the end, Siegfried relented and accepted the task. The smile that broke out on Arjuna’s face was slightly unsettling.

 

It was gone when Karna returned to the entrance, apologizing for taking so long.  
-  
-  
-  
When Lancelot was making a final round of the school, telling students it was time to leave, he found Cu stuck in the theater’s catwalk. He had been there for the last six hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If there are any mistakes in grammar or spelling, don't be afraid to point them out.
> 
> I feel like this is a bit too rushed near the end and too short, but I also think if I try to add anything it will become just me posting the entire thing in one chapter and I don't want to do that.


	2. Oni-Level Misunderstanding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ' _This...this had to be a mistake. Shuten had never, never once, gone to talk to Karna when others were around during school. It was always behind the school during a break or at the bar. To sit next to him with his friends was a complete 180 to what Arjuna had seen. What was she planning?_ '

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aka: I Say I'll Post it Soon Just as I Remember I'm at a Theater For a Musical.

When Siegfried arrived at school the next morning at a far more reasonable hour than 1 AM, he went to the library where Arjuna had texted him- at midnight, to meet him to start on the plan at exactly 6. After looking around the nearly lifeless room, he realized Arjuna must be in the library’s supply closet instead of out in the open. 

While he was correct in where the other student, he was not prepared for what he saw. It looked like he had renovated the whole room into one similar to a tv detective's office. Photos, maps, schedules, everything had at least two copies in the room. Either Arjuna was crazy prepared, or creepily obsessed with this plan. Siegfried wasn’t sure which was worse.

“You’re late,” Arjuna glared from across the small room.

“I’m sorry-”

“I don’t want to hear it. Let’s get started.”  
-  
-  
-  
-  
At this point, Siegfried was more concerned if Arjuna had possibly already planned multiple murders to remove the said ‘competition’ than on how precise he knew their school schedules. It was quite disturbing how he even knew when they usually went to the bathroom, or get water, or even who was the most likely to be impressed by drink mixing. Not to mention he had the average time it took them to go to class and go home. Just how long had he been planning this?

“This is all I’ve found in two days.”  
“What.”

“You heard me. The timing may be slightly off as I had to use the school’s security cameras to calculate it. Regardless, it should be accurate enough.”

Siegfried nodded mutely, he knew Arjuna had a reputation for being a perfectionist but this...this was far too much. He couldn’t back out though, he did agree to help. At this moment, he was starting to rethink his policy on what he was willing to help out with. Hopefully, there wouldn’t be any murder involved with this plan, that was a line he was not ready to cross. 

“While I would prefer to start at the top and work down, Karna has too much time invested in them so we’ll have to start small,” Arjuna sent a glare to the brown-haired girl and blue-haired boy’s picture tacked up on the corkboard, “which means we must focus on this person.”

Shuten Douji, a delinquent with a love of drinking. 

The white-haired teen raised an eyebrow at that. When had Karna hung out with the school’s resident alcohol smuggler? Arjuna pushed two papers along with a stack of pictures towards him. 

While he had known Karna sometimes worked part-time as a bartender, he had no idea Shuten had been a frequent customer to that particular bar. It wasn’t big or fancy, it was homely and its drinks were rather plain. Had it had rooms for people to stay in, it would have been considered an inn. Siegfried had a feeling this particular person had been planned against for far longer, there were pictures from the last Christmas in the stack. It didn’t seem like there was anything happening between them though. 

“You can thank the Student Council President for some of these pictures. I have no idea why she had so many from that bar but I can admire her tactics.”

Siegfried repressed a shiver, everyone knew about that particular person’s unrelenting desire to rid the school of ‘insects’ and just how far she was willing to go. There was a rumor that she had actually poisoned Shuten at one point, but that’s all it was. A completely and utterly baseless rumor. At least he hoped it was. 

“Now, Karna will have a shift at the bar after school from 6 to 11 PM. Shuten typically shows up at 8:08 exactly,” Arjuna pushed a timetable in front of Siegfried, “Our mission is not to prevent her from arriving, no that would be far too suspicious, our mission is to find out why she has started seeking him out during school hours when before she would never do such a thing.”

He didn’t give the other teen any time to respond as he got up, “Meet me here once school lets out. If you cross paths with either Karna or Shuten, do not give any indication of this plan away,” with that, he left the room.

Siegfried sighed deeply, just what had he gotten himself into?  
-  
-  
-  
-  
When lunch rolled around, and Cu had been dragged into Scathach’s classroom against his will, Arjuna chose what he thought was a strategic spot to watch his brother. However, Medb, of course, found her way to sit next to him and rant her about ‘Cu-chan’. Only this time Arjuna couldn’t just get up and leave without it looking questionable. Maybe he should plan to get Cu together with Medb, it would kill two birds with one stone. 

She was in the middle of complaining how he had run away from her two days ago right after the drama club’s rehearsal when she suddenly stopped. Arjuna followed her gaze to find his landing on the one and only Shuten Douji. That in of itself was strange, she never had lunch in the school. What was even stranger, and in fact maddening, was the fact she plopped herself right at the table where Karna, Gilgamesh, and Ozymandias sat. Right next to Karna. 

This...this had to be a mistake. Shuten had never, never once, gone to talk to Karna when others were around during school. It was always behind the school during a break or at the bar. To sit next to him with his friends was a complete 180 to what Arjuna had seen. What was she planning? 

 

He needed to know what was being said.  
-  
-  
-  
-  
Ozy and Gil had no idea what was going on. One of the most notorious delinquents at the school had just walked over and started lounging on Karna’s lap. Karna wasn’t even fazed, he just went on eating his lunch. The situation had stopped Gilgamesh’s words from exiting his mouth, instead, he just looked on with bewilderment.

What continued to make it strange was the fact Shuten kept asking to be fed food. Specifically sweets. It was a possible explanation to why he had brought so many sweets to school, but it also brought up its own set of questions to ‘why’. 

“Aah, Karna, I want to try that cake.”

“Ah, no, I want the other one.”

“Give me one that melts as I eat it.”

“Yes, aah, this one is perfect. What else is there?”

Just how many cakes did Karna bring, and could they get a piece of it themselves? Gil and Ozy each reached over for one that Shuten hadn’t taken a bite of, slowly pulling it towards themselves.  
-  
-  
-  
While Shuten being inside the school during lunch would be enough to capture people’s attention, the fact that Gilgamesh and Ozymandias started to sob openly was the thing that made half the lunchroom turn to stare. The golden-haired male was trying to cover his face as he ate, while Ozymandias just stare down at the cake with tears flowing down his cheeks. Their sobs echoed in the now nearly silent cafeteria.

“It’s just…”

“So good…”

A number of students and staff looked at one another, sharing both a puzzled and slightly disturbed look, before returning back to their previous conversations and lunch. The reignited conversations soon drowned out the two boys’ weeping. A few people went over to see what the commotion was about, a number of them also breaking down into tears after eating the cakes.

Arjuna was gripping the plant’s branches hard enough to nearly snap it in half. Two major questions filled his head at this display. One, when had Karna even had time to either bake or buy those cakes? Second, why hadn’t he been offered one to try first? 

 

Shuten herself let out a sniffle after eating a cake with alcohol-based fillings, telling Karna she wanted that cake for something Arjuna couldn’t catch.  
-  
-  
-  
Once the school day was over, and he had heard about Gilgamesh and Ozymandias started sobbing during lunch, Siegfried made his back to the library storage room. There, he found Arjuna pacing angrily around the table. He was mumbling something under his breath.

“Uh, Arjuna?”

He didn’t seem to hear him. Continuing to wear holes into the floor around the table. He suddenly stopped and slammed his hands down on the table.

“Why the hell wasn’t I the first one to try it!”

“Um…”

Arjuna’s head shot up to see Siegfried standing across from him. He quickly covered his face with a hand, turning away from the other teen in embarrassment. Coughing into his hand, he turned back around with no sign of what had just happened on his face. Pushing a paper towards Siegfried, Arjuna began to speak.

“At lunch today, Shuten appeared and decided to lounge in Karna’s lap while being fed samples of cakes. I have yet to deduce why and what the cakes are for, but I can not assume it is anything good for our plan.”

“Maybe it’s something more innocent then what you’re thinking?”

“Don’t be so absurd.”

“Sorry…”

Arjuna shook his head, “No, this is a challenge and I know it.”

He pointed to the paper. Siegfried picked up the nicely typed up document and read through, noticing Arjuna had highlighted seemingly important parts. He looked back to the other teen who began to explain.

“This schedule has changed from the usual. Karna is heading straight to the bar with Shuten in tow as we speak. If we move now, we will be able to follow them without much notice.”

The dark-skinned male didn’t wait for his response, instead, he grabbed a camera and left the room. After being gestured to follow, Siegfried left the room and closed the door behind him. Arjuna hadn’t been wrong, it only took a few minutes to catch up with the two. Thankfully, the two were engrossed in a conversation and made no notice of the two following them.  
-  
-  
-  
The following series of events threw both Siegfried and Arjuna off, the two had not been heading to the bar, but to the bakery next door. This made Arjuna all the more suspicious and Siegfried had a quickly passing thought of maybe Arjuna was correct in something less innocent happening between them. He just as quickly dismissed the thought, he shouldn’t assume such things without evidence. 

The two watched the shop from a bench out front, not-at-all-suspiciously hiding their faces with newspaper. The only odd look they received was from a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl with a strange plush toy in her arms. Though, it felt like she was gazing through them instead of at them. It made the two teens shiver lightly. 

Instead the shop, Karna was speaking to a motherly woman with tied back red hair. She had engaged in small talk with him, though it was mostly her speaking with Karna interjecting with nods or shakes of his head. Shuten was peering at all the cakes on display like a child, or possibly her cousin.

A young girl came from the back with a box with a bow on top. Karna thanked them both and exited the shop with Shuten following after. The two teens behind the newspapers tensed, hoping neither of the two would notice them. Thankfully, they didn’t.

“Aah, thank you so much for helping Karna. This will be perfect for Kintoki and I’s anniversary.”

WHAT.

“It’s not a problem, I hope you two enjoy it.”

Shuten smiled at him before waving and walking back towards the school. Karna went next door to the bar, where he started his shift early. Siegfried looked over to Arjuna who was glaring at the newspaper with the same intensity as the sun during a summer in Death Valley. The white-haired male was happy it had been a misunderstanding, but Arjuna’s silent wrath was starting to be very concerning. He was afraid the boy would actually burn the paper he was holding with his glare.  
-  
-  
-  
Karna returned home three hours earlier than usual, he wanted to make a new dinner Shuten had shown him for his brother after a long day of studying. Once he finished, he knocked on Arjuna’s door to let him know dinner was ready. There wasn’t a response. He tried again, once again getting no response. The door was locked.

He let out a sigh. It looked like he had to save Arjuna’s portion for his lunch tomorrow. This was becoming a bad habit of his. Hopefully, it would go away soon. Karna missed having dinner with his brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For any errors you spot, feel free to point them out.
> 
> I'm not sure if there much comedy in this chapter. I swear I'm trying.


	3. Urban Panic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _When Siegfried arrived at the storage closet the next day, he saw that Arjuna had, rather violently, removed Shuten’s name from the list of ‘competition’. There was also a small post-it note attached to the area with ‘in a relationship’ written on it. Her picture on the cork board had been covered by a large red ‘X’. It gave an air of uneasiness to the room._
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> _Or it would have, had it not been for Arjuna snoring loudly from his spot on the floor with a cute elephant pillow under his head._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aka: I'm Three Chapters In and Only Now Remember I Don't Know How to Write Good Comedy or Romance

When Siegfried arrived at the storage closet the next day, he saw that Arjuna had, rather violently, removed Shuten’s name from the list of ‘competition’. There was also a small post-it note attached to the area with ‘in a relationship’ written on it. Her picture on the cork board had been covered by a large red ‘X’. It gave an air of uneasiness to the room.

Or it would have, had it not been for Arjuna snoring loudly from his spot on the floor with a cute elephant pillow under his head. 

Setting his bag down on one of the chairs, Siegfried walked over to gently shake Arjuna awake. The teen immediately shot up and hit his head on the whiteboard he was sleeping under. Groaning in pain, Arjuna held his face in his hands as he rolled away from his spot. Siegfried cringe in sympathy, that must have hurt a lot. 

“Huh...Wha…” 

He got up groggily, rubbing his eyes. He opened the laptop on the table. Mumbling something as he typed out a message, the laptop was slammed shut. Arjuna then turned with half-closed eyes to Siegfried and, surprisingly, hugged him. Siegfried stiffened up immediately. Arjuna had his face buried into the taller male’s shoulder. Something had to be very wrong here.

“Mm...I ‘ant p’ncakes Kar’a.”

Ah, that made more sense. He was so out of it that he thought Siegfried was Karna. Though, the grip Arjuna had was slightly suffocating…

“Uh, Arjuna? I’m not Karna.”

His eyes shot open as he pushed himself away from Siegfried forcefully, hitting his back on the chair behind him. He let out a curse and nearly stumbled forward. Arjuna looked over at the other teen who stood with an awkward half-smile. The smaller male gripped Siegfried’s collar and pulled him down to meet his eyes. 

“How much did you hear?”

“I’m sorry, I heard nothing.”

“Good. Because there was nothing to hear.” 

Arjuna sat down at the table, opening his laptop and pulled up a document. Siegfried looked over his shoulder to see it was a list of instructions. Very detailed instructions. The sound of a printer turned Siegfried’s attention to exactly that in the corner of the room. He walked over to pick up the paper, it was the list of instructions.

“That’s not for today. It’s for tomorrow. Nothing will be happening today, but I greatly need your help with tomorrow.”

“Oh, what do you need me to do?”

“Well,” Arjuna suppressed a groan, “I need you to keep Karna busy from 9 to 7. Please.”

Siegfried nodded, “May I ask why exactly? You seem uncomfortable.”

The teen’s shoulders slumped, his head going down to lay on the table. Worried that Arjuna had hurt himself, Siegfried shook the boy lightly once more. He received a groan in response before Arjuna sat back up with a hand rubbing circles on the side of his head.

“My mother and brothers wish to have a day out. To cut the explanation short, Karna is not allowed to come along or even know about it because of a...previous incident.”

That was all that was said on the matter. Arjuna began to eat from his lunch bag as he typed furiously on the computer. Whatever he was eating, it smelled delicious.  
-  
-  
-  
The day passed seemingly without incident, excluding a single moment where Cu had been punted across the hallway by Martha after begging for a way to get away from Medb who had been chasing him through the halls. Somehow, Martha had thrown him in a way that made him turn a corner. They found him halfway into an air vent. 

Siegfried found Karna waiting at the entrance with what seemed like a worried expression. At least, he thought it was. He was also looking at his phone repeatedly. Arjuna was nowhere to be found and yet school had ended twenty minutes ago. Even when he was told to meet at the storage room, Arjuna always left the school ten minutes after it let out. Siegfried only knew that because Arjuna had printed out both their own schedules on the wall to form a neat little timeline. It freaked him out a bit.

“Is everything okay?”

“Huh,” Karna’s head snapped to face Siegfried, “Oh, hi. Yes, Arjuna’s just not responding. It’s probably nothing.”

Right as he said that, Arjuna bolted towards them. He grabbed his brother’s arm and began to drag him out of the school with a speed Siegfried had never seen him possessed before. Karna waved half-heartedly as he was being dragged by his left arm. Siegfried just looked on with his brows drawn together. His mouth twitching in and out of a smile. 

“AR-JU-NA!”

Medb ran up to where Karna and Arjuna had been not a second prior, looking around furiously for the dark-skinned boy. Her face was twisted in anger and her fists were shaking. Her narrowed golden-brown eyes locked with Siegfried’s. He gulped, her eyes were staring right through him. 

“Where is he!”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know where they went.”

“Where,” She pulled him down to her eye level by his hair, “Is,” It was like she was trying to tear his hair out with each emphasis, “He?”

“I’m sorry, I really don’t know. Please let me go.”

Medb let go and pushed him away with a huff, her jaw was clenched and her fists were shaking even more than before. She marched outside the entrance before taking off in a sprint in the direction she must have guessed they went. Siegfried quickly texted both Karna and Arjuna to be careful of her. She looked ready to kill.  
-  
-  
-  
After an adventure of cutting through four parks, two libraries, the same supermarket twice, the bakery with the red-haired lady who gave them two cupcakes on the house, and three alleyways, Arjuna finally made it to his house with Karna in tow. He slammed the door shut and locked it. He did the same with any window that was large enough for someone Medb’s size to get in through. Arjuna triple checked each lock to make sure it wouldn’t suddenly unlock. 

Karna just went to the living room to lay down and wait until Arjuna’s checks where done. He was admittedly exhausted from the week, for some reason a lot of people had their anniversaries this week so Karna had been swamped with helping them out. He didn’t regret it, but he was tired from all that he had to order or reserve for those who had been too busy to do it themselves. It required far too much social interactions with rules he wasn’t familiar with. 

When Arjuna entered the living room, he found his brother asleep on the couch. He covered him with a warm blanket, thankful the couch had been cleaned yesterday morning.  
-  
-  
-  
Siegfried knocked on Karna’s door at around 6 AM. Arjuna had texted him saying he left an hour earlier to meet up with his mother and brothers. In the instructions, he underlined and highlighted the fact he should avoid the places he listed under step 1.

a) The Stargazer Shop (Karna shouldn’t have a shift there so it should be easy)  
b) Queen Britannia’s Bakery (It’s next to the bar)  
c) The Market Plaza (DO NOT GO HERE)

It should be fairly easy to avoid those places, he’d just have to make sure his plan didn’t cross the path of those places. He did feel somewhat awkward about the whole thing. He was kinda lying to Karna by not letting him know about his family being in town. From how Arjuna reacted, it was most likely for the best.

“Ah, good morning.”

“Huh.”

Karna and Siegfried stared at one another. Karna looked like he had just woken up and was still in his school uniform. His shirt was untucked from his pants, his tie askew. Siegfried jerked his eyes back up to Karna’s face in a bit of embarrassment. Thankfully, the shorter male didn’t seem to notice. 

“I, wanted to know if you’d like to hang out today.” Siegfried got quieter and quieter as the sentence continued. He should have done this over text. That would have been far easier.

“Aa, sure. Let me get changed.”

He invited the tall teen into the house as he went into the bedroom. Siegfried closed the door behind him and sat on the couch as he waited. There was a silence that made it seem as if he had been there for far longer than 5 minutes. 

“Sorry, are you ready to go?”

Karna still looked half asleep, but still better than when it looked like he had slept on the floor. Siegfried mentally kicked himself, that sounded incredibly rude. Luckily he didn’t say it out loud. He got up and opened the door, Karna following behind. Step 1, completed.  
-  
-  
-  
It was only 11:30 AM and Arjuna was already exhausted. His brothers and his mother had pulled him to every little shop- especially the twins. He did not want to deal with this for another 7 and a half hours, he would never make it. 

Now, it wasn’t like he didn’t like spending time with them. No, he loved them. But he just didn’t want to do anything today except stay home and relax. Ah...Arjuna really wanted some pancakes too. 

“Hey. Hey, Arjuna. Isn’t that-”

Arjuna slammed his hand over Sahadeva’s mouth and pulled down the arm pointing across the street. Only Nakula seem to notice. He joined the two behind the eldest brothers and their mother. Arjuna let go of Sahadeva’s arm and placed a finger at his mouth. Nakula looked over, his eyes widening in understanding.

Karna was across the street walking with Siegfried.  
-  
-  
-  
Siegfried’s phone beeped with an incoming text. He pulled out his phone to check it as Karna continued to munch on his donut. It was Arjuna telling him to quote, ‘ _get the fuck out of here NOW_ ’. He looked around, finally landing on the three across the street. His face paled, he hadn’t considered if they’d cross paths in a park. 

Arjuna was motioning quickly for him to get Karna out of there. He at least obscured Karna’s vision to the other side of the street, so he was unaware that Arjuna and his brothers were even there. His eyes landed on a small shop that would be completely behind the group, and thus, possibly the best place to go. Siegfried started guiding Karna towards it, hoping they could get inside fast enough. 

“Hey! Karna! Over here!”

 _Verdammt!_  
-  
-  
-  
Arjuna was going to murder Nakula and bury his body where no one would ever find it. That cheeky little smile was going to burn. The moment they were alone he was going down for ruining Arjuna’s plans. Well, he would, if he could even get them alone before the others would notice. Which, sadly, was going to be impossible now.

He blamed that idiot Siegfried. 

The moment Nakula called Karna’s attention over here, he had also called the other three people ahead of them’s attention. Which resulted in Bhima himself shouting for Karna to get over here. Arjuna could see Siegfried’s futile attempts at stopping Karna, he wasn’t sure if he was more embarrassed of Karna or that guy right now.

For whatever reason, Yudhishthira thought it would be a good idea to invite Karna along. Arjuna rubbed circles along the sides of his head. His older brother was a complete airhead. He knew exactly what had happened the last three times Karna came, and yet here he was inviting like it was no big deal.

Arjuna wasn’t ready for this many headaches today.  
-  
-  
-  
The most surprising fact of that day wasn’t that Arjuna hadn’t murdered at least one person for this mess, but the fact nothing bad happened while Karna was with them. Not. A. Single. Thing. This had to be impossible, never once had Karna’s tongue not gotten him in trouble with his other brothers or mother. He hadn’t made one comment that pierced someone’s ego. Something must be very wrong. 

Or Siegfried’s hypothesis on Karna simply being tired the whole day was true. Arjuna wasn’t sure if he wanted to put any faith in that though. He had apologized, repeatedly, for not getting Karna out of there fast enough. Had there been any incident, Arjuna might not have forgiven him.

But, strangely, there was no incident this year. It was, unsettlingly enough, almost like they were a normal family. The closest thing to an incident that happened was when Yudhishthira’s soda from the vending machine got stuck and Karna attempted to knock it down with his own purchase. It did not work. Karna apologized for not helping while Yudhishthira found it as a way to compare their equally horrible luck. Arjuna had to physically stop Siegfried from attempting to help, knowing it would just make it worse and then there would have three drinks stuck.

It continued to be unreal even when they bid goodbye to Arjuna and Karna, and Siegfried who had just tagged along awkwardly the whole time. They all sat around the living room, Siegfried and Arjuna sharing an almost perplexed look while Karna had a smile on his face from the day’s activities.

 

Arjuna would never admit this to anyone, and Siegfried wasn't about to admit this to Arjuna, but Karna’s smiles were adorable.  
-  
-  
-  
Mash got a call from her friend to pick her up from the park. When she arrived, thanks to her father driving her, she found Gudako on the ground. Sobbing. Loudly. With every drink in the vending machine caught by the glass before it could reach the bottom. 

Gudako was crying about something like ‘E Rank Luck’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the third draft and I don't know if I'm even happy with it.
> 
>  
> 
> ~~Also apparently D8ONO created more angst after reading chapter 2 so I'm already failing at what I set out to do. Help.~~
> 
> I've just noticed Bhima's tag is Bheem.


	4. The Most Important Person

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _In the period right after lunch, study hall, Arjuna received a text from Rama to head to Mr. Lancelot’s room. Upon inquiring why, Rama simply said Gilgamesh was getting everyone to admit who the most important person to them is. It took far too long for Arjuna to remember one critical detail. Karna was in that class this period. Oh...oh this was perfect._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aka: This Was Originally Chapter 3 But Pacing Happened

Arjuna woke up after a long night’s sleep. He got dressed and checked his phone. Medb had been texting him nonstop, in all caps, about running out on her talk on her ‘Cu-chan’. His messenger app had stopped counting how many she had sent after 999. He had to admit, he admired her persistence. It was far too early to deal with her though, breakfast was far more important at the moment.

He yawned and closed his bedroom door behind himself, entering the kitchen to sit at the table as Karna cooked. Ah, it smelled like pancakes. Today was starting off so nicely. Karna gave him a plate with his pancakes before returning to the stove for another plate. Arjuna smiled, this was shaping up to be a great morning. Just him, Karna, Siegfried, the pancakes and- 

Wait...Siegfried? 

Arjuna nearly choked on his water. Why the hell was Siegfried sitting across from him at the table? Why was he even here? More importantly, why was he eating his pancakes?

“Uh, hi.”

“What the fuck.”

Karna placed down his own plate of pancakes before returning to the stove and counter to get the rest of the food. Siegfried felt Arjuna’s glare burn through him. He stared down at his intertwined fingers as Arjuna sipped his water, all while glaring at him with a nearly murderous intent. No, Siegfried must still be a little out of it from sleep. Arjuna wouldn’t go as far as to murder someone, he had a good sense of morals. Or so he hoped. 

After a few minutes worrying over the chance of Arjuna possibly deciding to kill him, Karna returned to save Siegfried from his brother’s glare. He placed down the rest of the food he prepared down in front over all of them, sitting down to join in on the meal. Arjuna’s attitude suddenly changed to a far more indifferent one almost immediately. The only one who really talked was Arjuna, with Karna interjecting every so often to ask something towards his brother or to see who wanted more food. 

Siegfried left right after breakfast, apologizing for intruding on them like that. Karna dismissed the apologize, saying it wasn’t a problem. Arjuna texted Siegfried that he expected an explanation at school the next day. He also checked in on the texts from Medb, she was now ranting about dogs or something.  
-  
-  
-  
Once Monday rolled around and Siegfried explained why he was at their house, Arjuna returned to having him listed as ‘none competition’. Not that the other teen knew about his listing, no that would jeopardize his plan. That, and he’d have to explain why he saw him as competition. And the reason of ‘taking up too much of his brother’s time’ would only work for so long until it started to fall apart.

He hadn’t noticed anyone recently needing an abnormal amount of his brother’s time, besides Jinako- and another person, but she would be dealt with eventually. Maybe he should invest in getting her a boyfriend to stop her from mooching off Karna. She was rich, why did she need to mooch off of anyone?

In the period right after lunch, study hall, Arjuna received a text from Rama to head to Mr. Lancelot’s room. Upon inquiring why, Rama simply said Gilgamesh was getting everyone to admit who the most important person to them is. It took far too long for Arjuna to remember one critical detail. Karna was in that class this period. Oh...oh this was perfect.

The teacher in charge of the study hall didn’t even notice Arjuna sprinting out of the room, though then again that guy always chatted with that creepy red-head who Arjuna was sure was a serial killer. Or at least one in the making. ...Maybe both the teacher and the student were in all honesty. Not that it mattered to Arjuna, as long as they stayed far away from him.

When he reached the room, he saw it was filled with people. He shifted toward the back, where people wouldn’t be likely to notice him. Rama was also in the back, with the nurse Nightingale. While she did work in the infirmary, Nightingale wasn’t a school nurse. She was Rama’s personal nurse, on account of a heart condition he developed years ago. Though, one could also consider her a makeshift bodyguard. She was fiercely protective of her patient to the point she had once pulled a gun on another student for what she believed was an attack on Rama. Granted it happened outside of school, but that was still a crazy thing to do. On the bright side, if you happened to be hurt in her line of sight, you would receive possibly the best medical treatment in the world. The downside is that she was downright terrifying. 

At the front of the room, Gilgamesh was standing behind a podium that definitely didn’t belong to Lancelot. Ozymandias handed him a stack of paper, presumably with everyone’s most important person in their life written on it. Karna was just kinda there, as per the usual. Wait, was that Shuten talking to him while drinking straight from a bottle? No...It couldn’t- it was.

“Ahem, now that I have all the people you mongrels think are important...let me prove you all wrong.”

Arjuna knew something like that would happen. Though, he wasn’t sure if anyone could beat Rama feelings for his girlfriend, Sita, or Nightingale’s feelings for...health. Yeah, let’s go with that. He was curious on if Karna had put down an answer, and if it was him. Of course, it probably was.

Gilgamesh started up the large electronic board where it showed the same screen as what was presumably on his computer. He had a folder poorly covered up that clearly said Artoria. Arjuna could see the girl sink into her chair with her hands covering her face. He, to the surprise of almost everyone, clicked a separate folder that wasn’t labeled Artoria. Maybe he had multiple?

Whoever was on the screen now was definitely not Artoria. This person had long green hair and an impossibly perfect face. It was pictures of this person in various beautiful landscapes, Arjuna wasn’t sure if the pictures of the terrain or the person. Seriously though, were they a boy or a girl? 

“This, mongrels, is the most important person in the universe to me. My dear friend Enkidu. They are equal to me which means all of you are nothing compared to them. Now allow me to read from the 300-page essay I have on why that is.” He wasn’t kidding. He brought out a bounded stack of papers and began to read. Starting with how Enkidu had punched him in the face when they first meet. 

This continued for 15 pages, apparently, at one point Enkidu had beaten Gilgamesh in a wrestling match and he was forced to serve them for the rest of the day. Enkidu had spent the rest of the day at the zoo to play with the animals. Especially the lions. 

Ozymandias saved them from listening to the remaining 285 papers...by insisting his girlfriend and his brother were far superior. This escalated into a heated argument over who really was better, to the point they both turned to Karna who had just been listening to Shuten the whole time. She laughed at Karna’s clueless face when everyone else looked at him, waiting to see what he would say.

“Ah, uh, I’m afraid I have my own person. I will be rather biased here.”

Arjuna smirked inwardly, of course, he was the one being referred to here. There was no one else who could be as important to Karna as he was. And unlike the other two- three, Arjuna was actually at the same school.

“Oh? Who is it?”

Arjuna smiled to himself. Yes, this would prove Karna valued him over Siegfried, thus defeating a possible rival. This could only go in his favor-

“My best friend Duryodhana, I’ve known him since I was a kid and he’s always been there for me.”

 

Huh? Arjuna continued to smile as the words began to process in his head. You could hear something snap the moment the words connected. Arjuna was still smiling from the shock.  
-  
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Siegfried went to the storage room after school ended, only to find Arjuna sitting on the floor with broken pencils scattered all around him as he rested his chin in his hands. He was staring off into the void with a blank look on his face. It was rather concerning. 

“That motherfucker,” Arjuna said suddenly.

Siegfried simply nodded and slowly backed out of the room. He closed the door and left the library. He was not prepared for that in the slightest.  
-  
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The next day, Siegfried found Arjuna sitting at the table inside the room with his head in his hands. After what happened yesterday, Siegfried took a few minutes to think about if he wanted to check on Arjuna. He decided he should, just to be safe.

“Arjuna?”

“I can’t do it.”

“Uh-”

“There is no possible way to get rid of him.”

“Who are you-”

“That madman Duryodhana.”

“...And he is?”

“Not important. We’ll have to work around him.”

Siegfried just nodded his head. He had no idea what was going on and he didn’t want to ask. Arjuna turned his laptop to face the other person in the room. On it was a video with a name next to it on an electronic note.

Tamamo no Mae, the self-proclaimed goddess.

Arjuna pressed play on the video, it was a clip of a recent interview of students produced by the film club.  
~  
~  
~  
_“So, Tamamo,” the interviewer, Edmond Dantes, started, “who do you think is the most reliable person in the school?”_

__

The girl clasped her hands together and smiled brightly, “Aa, the answer is obvious!”

__

_She jumped up from her chair, “If you need anything, there’s always one person who will go above and beyond to help! Karna-san! THE Karna-san! I have to say that name again. Karna-san!”_  
~  
~  
~  
Personally, Siegfried was quite happy Karna’s charity had been recognized. Even if he could be intimidating with those ice cold eyes of his, he was possibly the kindest person Siegfried had ever known. The white-haired high schooler looked up from the video to Arjuna who was waiting with his arms crossed. 

“I...don’t see the problem with her?”

“The problem,” Arjuna stressed the word, “is this spurred on nearly all of Karna’s time being taken up by others.”

“But he is helping them—“

“And if he keeps having his time taken up, you will never get a chance to confess.” Unbeknownst to Siegfried, Arjuna held his tongue from what he wanted to say. It was too early to reveal that part of the plan. 

“Ah,” Siegfried paused, “I...I am fine with that.”

“Stop being such a doormat!”

“Sorry.” 

Arjuna rubbed the bridge of his nose. Why the hell did Siegfried have to be so passive about this? If he was more assertive this would be far easier for Arjuna.

“Just listen to me okay?”  
-  
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The plan was simple. Stage an accident to get rid of Tamamo for a time to rid Karna of 9 distractions. After all, where Tamamo was, her sisters were. All 8 of them. Arjuna didn’t understand why anyone would want 9 kids. Unless...no, it’s not the time for that.

Of course, Siegfried was less than willing to go along with the plan. The point was to land Tamamo in the hospital- or at least make her stay home, for a short time, and that didn’t sit right at all with him. But, he had agreed to help Arjuna. So it seemed he had little choice in the matter.

It would work perfectly. Tamamo would enter the stairwell and be doused in freezing cold water. The sudden temperature shock response would be enough to attract Nightingale’s attention as Rama and she made their way down the stairs at the same time. Siegfried wasn’t sure just how cold the water was, but the bucket had been absolutely freezing to the touch. Arjuna’s small smile at the comment was yet another disturbing thing Siegfried never wanted to see again.

Much to Arjuna’s delight, and Siegfried’s despair, the plan had worked. A little too well in fact. They hadn’t quite calculated the possibility of Tamamo running late and rushing up the stairs right as Rama passed. Thus, Rama was soaked with the freezing water as well. That part made Siegfried instantly regret this plan. 

Both of them reacted to the cold shock, though while Tamamo was freezing, Rama looked like he was about to pass out. Nightingale had quickly pulled out two heated towels, from where no one knew, and wrapped it around the both of them. Tamamo was guided down the stairs by her while Rama was carried princess style, he wasn’t in shape to complain about it like he usually did. 

Siegfried saw Arjuna cross Tamamo’s name off of a paper he carried to the lookout location. He also crossed out Rama’s name. Siegfried didn’t want to know what he originally planned for him.  
-  
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When Mash and Galahad went to their father’s classroom to see if he was simply held up by a student, they found him tied up in the supply closet. Apparently, Gilgamesh wanted to make sure his amazing plan wasn’t interrupted by the teacher. They knew this because Gilgamesh had left a signed note.

Mash helped her hapless father untie himself while Galahad mumbled under his breath about his useless father.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If D8ONO makes another route in Beneath where Karna suffers more, you may leave a complaint about me giving them ideas in the comments.


	5. Surprise Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _He was about to sit down when the doorbell rang. That was definitely odd, no one really came to their house this late at night. Karna opened the door after the second ring, only to stare in shock at who was in front of him. It...it couldn’t be._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aka: Oh Hey Look, Two Chapters In One Day

**Tuesday, 11:48 PM**

**Location: Karna’s House**

Karna had just returned home from his shift at the bar. His boss, an older man named Vlad, had dismissed him an hour earlier to keep him from working so late all the time. He insisted on staying to finish his shift, to which Vlad had just sighed and went back to his own work. He was quite good at embroidery and clothes making, the bar’s decor was proof of that. Karna had also received a nice suit from Vlad as a gift for his birthday last year, though he had so few chances to wear it that it still looked the same as when he got it.

Arjuna must have been fast asleep, and his dinner plate had been washed so at least he ate. That always made Karna happy, his little brother sometimes worked himself so hard he forgot basic needs, so whenever he did focus on them it was a good day. Karna put away Arjuna’s plate and heated up his own portion of dinner. When the microwave beeped, he pulled out his rewarmed dinner. 

He was about to sit down when the doorbell rang. That was definitely odd, no one really came to their house this late at night. Karna opened the door after the second ring, only to stare in shock at who was in front of him. It...it couldn’t be.  
-  
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**Wednesday, 6:30 AM**

**Location: CHS, North America. (Not to be confused with CHS, Japan.)**

Siegfried was speaking with Astolfo and Jeanne- who, confusingly enough, had a twin also named Jeanne, when Arjuna was suddenly dragging him to the library. Slamming the door closed, Arjuna banged his hand on the corkboard where a new picture was. Siegfried still had no idea what was happening. 

“WE’VE GOT A CODE RED.”

“Eh?”

“That madman Duryodhana is here!”

“I...Still don’t know who that is.”

“He’s Karna best friend. He’s a terrible person.”

 

Siegfried raised an eyebrow at that. Those two statements didn’t match at all. Sure, Gilgamesh could be a complete ass, but he was a good person at heart. The same was true for Ozymandias. If this person was as bad as Arjuna said, Siegfried wasn’t sure what could have made Karna consider him his best friend. 

“We need to get rid of him.”

“...Please don’t tell me murder is involved.”

“Luckily for you, it doesn’t.”  
-  
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**Wednesday, 12:03 PM**

**Location: CHS, North America.**

The most surprising thing to anyone who passed Karna so far that day wasn’t the taller teen walking with him. No, it was how much the normally stoic teen was smiling. Gil and Ozy were almost sure his face would crack from how much he was grinning. 

It was almost disturbing how Karna’s usual attitude had taken a 180 just because of this guy. Though Karna had said he was the most important person to him, so it was understandable in a way. Gil could openly and proudly admit Enkidu made him smile in more ways than one, and Ozy would never lie and say Nefertari or Moses failed to make him smile when they tried. 

They did have to admit, Duryodhana was not at all what they imagined. They expected someone far more akin to Karna’s normal mannerisms, a rather quiet and reclusive person. Not someone who was far more robust, outspoken, or well, extroverted than Karna. If he went to their school, he might have fit in very well with their little group. Gil and Ozy decided Karna had amazing choices in friendship- in no way fueling their own egos, no that would be absurd. They did wonder why Duryodhana kept calling Karna by a different name though.

“Hahahahaha!” Duryodhana’s laugh seemed to bounce off the wall, “Vasusena! You never told me you actually had a license now. We’ve got to go driving again like we did in middle school.”

“Eh? Karna did that? When were you going to tell us about that story?” Gil questioned with a glint in his eyes.

“Ah, it’s not much. We just borrowed my father’s car and rode around outside of town at top speeds.”

“Borrowed, took out without him knowing, same thing,” Duryodhana added as he shrugged.

“I think that was also the time you broke the car mirror Duryo.”

“No one can prove that was me. No one can prove that.”  
-  
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**Wednesday, 7:27 PM**

**Location: Karna’s house**

Karna had left for his shift nearly an hour and a half ago. Arjuna was stuck in the house with that madman. While he wanted to go with Karna, Duryodhana decided to stay back to deal with the remaining jetlag. However, this made Arjuna’s plan all the easier to execute. 

It was remarkably easy to trick him into ingesting sleeping pills, Arjuna just had to carefully insert them into a sweet from the bakery and give it to Duryodhana as a faux olive branch. He had eaten the macaroons in a single gulp, which strongly reminded Arjuna of Bhima. After that, it was just a short while before Duryodhana fell asleep.

It was time for stage 2.  
-  
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**Wednesday, 8:58 PM**

**Location: Just outside Karna’s house**

Arjuna was quite proud of himself at the moment. After texting Siegfried to come over and help him out, he called up Cu. Cu was currently working part time as a truck driver. Specifically, a fruit truck.

Siegfried arrived and begrudgingly helped moved Duryodhana’s body, which Arjuna would have never been able to move by himself at a reasonable pace. Cu was less than pleased that he was being called in to put a knocked out person in his truck. A quick threat of calling Medb changed his opinion at a frightening speed. Blackmail really didn’t get enough credit nowadays. 

By the time Karna returned at 11, Siegfried had gone home with a terrible sinking feeling in his stomach. He wasn’t sure if it was from what he had done or from the suspicious macaroon Arjuna offered him. Brynhild noticed his discomfort when he returned home and immediately sent him to bed as if she was his mother and not his brother’s girlfriend. He was thankful for that though, as the moment his head touched the pillow he was out.  
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**Wednesday, 11:49 PM**

**Location: Karna’s house**

Karna was very worried at the moment. Duryodhana was nowhere to be found and he wasn’t answering his phone. Arjuna had just shrugged when questioned if he knew where he could have gone. Had Karna been looking, he would have seen a short flash of guilt in his brother’s eyes that was gone just as quickly as it appeared.

It was around 2 am, after Karna had worn a circle into the living room wood paneling, when he got a call from Duryodhana.

“Duryo! Where are you?”

“Well...You won’t believe this but, two towns over apparently.”

“What?”

“I don’t know. I fell asleep and woke up with a doctor determining if I was dead or not. So, my 12th birthday party except without the duck.”

“Do you need me to pick you up?”

“Yes please.”

 

Arjuna nearly broke the pencil in his hand. He had forgotten to take Duryodhana’s phone. It looked like that entire plan went down the drain.  
-  
-  
-  
When Cu had been driving the unconscious body of Duryodhana to the next town as Arjuna instructed, he felt as if someone was watching him. He decided to continue until he reached the outskirts of the next town over. Then he had hightailed it out of there, hoping no one had seen him.

Fortunately- or unfortunately, there had been a doctor driving by and saw the body on the side of the road.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't tell if there's enough comedy here. If there isn't, just know the next chapter will (probably) have a lot more.
> 
> Also, Duryo is going to be here for a bit so get used to him.


	6. When Planning Fails

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Arjuna was very close to considering murder at the moment. For the past week, he had been trying everything to get rid of Duryodhana. Cu and Siegfried had been dragged along for nearly every single plan. Nothing worked._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aka: When Your Perfectionism Decides You Need To Fail Perfectly As Well

Arjuna was very close to considering murder at the moment. For the past week, he had been trying everything to get rid of Duryodhana. Cu and Siegfried had been dragged along for nearly every single plan. Nothing worked. 

He tried another sleeping pill plot, but Duryodhana had thrown them up. Arjuna believed he had added one too many. Thankfully, Duryodhana assumed he had just eaten something bad.

Next, he tried to get him to leave with a fake voice mail. It was a manufactured call about his mother being in the hospital. In line with his past luck, Duryodhana had been speaking with her when he got the voicemail. They both laughed it off. Siegfried apologized to Brynhildr for pulling her into the scheme. She had been...frighteningly good at disguising her voice.

Then, he tried to use Siegfried to intimidate him. Siegfried, while a complete doormat, had an intimidating figure. That plan failed as Siegfried apologized for startling him. They ended up in a friendly conversation once Duryodhana realized this was the guy Karna had been telling him about. Arjuna was now even more disappointed in him.

He had even tried poison! Twice! Duryodhana had walked it off the first time and Ozymandias was the one who came down with food poisoning the second time. His younger brother, Moses, was called in to pick him up. Ozymandias had been so out of it that he cried when Moses showed up. He was mumbling something about a musical as his brother carried him out of the school.  
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-  
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Arjuna was on the floor of the storage closet, sobbing into his elephant pillow. No matter what, he just couldn’t get a plan to work. It was a huge blow to his ego. Siegfried was rubbing his back sympathetically. 

“It’s useless...I can’t win this…” Arjuna mumbled between his sobs. 

It made Siegfried feel bad for the teen, it was never fun for him to watch someone fail so much. While he didn’t agree with his tactics, it still made him feel awful to see Arjuna crying his eyes out. It was such a big difference to his normal attitude.

“Ah, Arjuna, if I may make a suggestion-”

“I’m not apologizing,” Arjuna’s words were muffled by the pillow.

“I wasn’t going to suggest that,” _Yet_ , Siegfried added silently, “I was going to say you could possibly get one of your brothers to help.”

This caught Arjuna’s attention. He lifted his head from the pillow to listen. Siegfried took a deep breath before he continued. 

“Well, you could, get one or more of your brothers to show Karna what kind of person he really is?” Siegfried had gotten quieter and quieter as he continued. He didn’t like what he was saying. He definitely didn’t like the smirk forming on Arjuna’s face.

“Siegfried, have I ever told you how wonderful you are?”  
-  
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Karna was walking home with Duryo from the supermarket. Duryo was eating from the bag of fruit that had been bought. The two were discussing that wonderful 12th birthday party, where Duryo had fallen asleep in a fruit truck during a game of hide and seek. He would have been stuck two towns over for far longer if it hadn’t been for the duck that kept nipping at Surya, Karna’s father, to follow it. They still had no idea how or why Duryo had fallen asleep there. Thankfully, the cake was still good by the time he got back. Karna was attached to his hip for the next week, he had been afraid the same thing would happen again.

Arjuna and a very reluctant Siegfried were waiting behind a bush for Bhima to cross paths with Karna and Duryodhana. Bhima **hated** him with a passion, and the same was true for Duryodhana. Karna would have to acknowledge the mutual hatred when he saw it.

When Karna caught sight of his brother, he waved him over. Bhima had a smile on his face that fell at the sight of who was with Karna. The eldest of the three teens seemed completely oblivious to this.

“Oh, hey Bhima.”

Bhima glared at Duryodhana’s smirk. Nothing good would come of that. 12 years of knowing him and that fact was still just as true as it was when they were kids. 

“Bitch.”

“Duryodhanayousonofa-!”

Arjuna and Siegfried watched as Bhima chased after the laughing teen. They were both shouting at one another, causing many people walking about to stop and stare. At one point, Duryodhana started throwing fruit at Bhima.

 

Karna smiled to himself, he was happy that his brother and best friend got along so well. When they were kids they were always fighting, it was nice seeing them just playing about for once. He was also happy he had thought ahead to get another bag of fruit just in case Duryo ate the one he was carrying on the way home.

-  
-  
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“So, why does Bhima hate Duryodhana?”

“Besides the bullying, he poisoned Bhima when they were kids with the intent to kill. Bhima got an immunity to poison because of that.”

“I’m sorry, WHAT?”

"Yeah. He's also our cousin."

"What...?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this is too short. I'll just have to make the next one longer.
> 
>  
> 
> ~~also, yo, D8ONO, bring Duryo back into the plot of Silent Cry as a bigger character for sake of drama~~


	7. Taking Inspiration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _On the other side of the school, Arjuna found a manga laying on a desk. The student council president would definitely confiscate this, especially when it said R-18 on the front. He picked it up and opened to a random page, he might as well see what it was before it was lost to the hellfires of his half-sister’s wrath. He felt his face heat up rapidly as he slammed the book closed. That had been a rather detailed porn scene._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aka: I Wrote Something Kinda Horror So Here's Comedy As Compensation

“Where is it…?”

Jeanne, better known as Jalter due to her twin, had emptied out her bag in search for a single item. It was something that was technically banned from school, but it's not like Raikou could find the item if she couldn’t. The problem was, if she left it in a class, Raikou would definitely find it.

On the other side of the school, Arjuna found a manga laying on a desk. The student council president would definitely confiscate this, especially when it said R-18 on the front. He picked it up and opened to a random page, he might as well see what it was before it was lost to the hellfires of his half-sister’s wrath. He felt his face heat up rapidly as he slammed the book closed. That had been a rather detailed porn scene. 

He opened it up again to a far more tame page and it took a moment for him to realize what he was looking at. The two characters...were eerily similar to him and his brother. He turned to the back cover to see it signed by d’Alter. It was something Jalter had made. He looked back in the pages to confirm the two characters resembled Karna and him a little too closely for it to be a coincidence. 

Well...Jalter wouldn’t mind if he borrowed this.  
-  
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Siegfried was very perplexed by why Arjuna had called him to the storage closet during lunch, that hadn’t happened before. He was also very wary of that smile on his face. That never leads to anything good.

“Ah, why did you-”

“I have the perfect plan.”

“Oh, of course…” Siegfried sighed and awaited his fate.

Arjuna laid out to plan to him. It could be summed up very simply. Get Karna drunk and ‘rescue’ him from the other drunk students. Siegfried immediately wanted to back out of the plan, none of it sounded good. However, Arjuna pulled the ‘he-agreed-to-help-Arjuna-with-his-plan’ card and he couldn’t refuse anymore. The biggest problem was a very simple fact.

Karna never drank.  
-  
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“I’m sorry, you have HOW MANY SIBLINGS?!”

“ninety-nine brothers and a single sister. All younger than me.”

“HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE!?”

Ozy and Gil stared, mouths agape, at Duryo. There was no conceivable way that guy had that many siblings. Not only that, but Karna could name them all and recognize them without mistaking them for another. When asked, he recited the names in order of age.

“In order after Duryodhana, There’s Duhsasana, Duhsaha, Duhsala, Jalasandha, Sama, Saha, Vinda and Anuvinda, Durdharsha, Suvahu, Dushpradharshana, Durmarshana and Durmukha, Dushkarna, and Karna; Vivinsati and Vikarna, Sala, Satwa, Sulochana, Chitra and Upachitra, Chitraksha, Charuchitra, Sarasana, Durmada and Durvigaha, Vivitsu, Vikatanana; Urnanabha and Sunabha, then Nandaka and Upanandaka; Chitravana, Chitravarman, Suvarman, Durvimochana; Ayovahu, Mahavahu, Chitranga, Chitrakundala, Bhimavega, Bhimavala, Balaki, Balavardhana, Ugrayudha; Bhima, Karna, Kanakaya, Dridhayudha, Dridhavarman, Dridhakshatra, Somakitri, Anudara; Dridhasandha, Jarasandha, Satyasandha, Sada, Suvak, Ugrasravas, Ugrasena, Senani, Dushparajaya, Aparajita, Kundasayin, Visalaksha, Duradhara; Dridhahasta, Suhasta, Vatavega, and Suvarchas; Adityaketu, Vahvashin, Nagadatta, Agrayayin; Kavachin, Krathana, Kunda, Kundadhara, Dhanurdhara; Ugra and Bhimaratha, Viravahu, Alolupa; Abhaya, and Raudrakarman, and Dridharatha; Anadhrishya, Kundabhedin, Viravi, Dhirghalochana Pramatha, and Pramathi and Dhirgharoma; Dirghavahu, Mahavahu, Vyudhoru, Kanakadhvaja; Kundasi and Virajas, and then there’s his sister, Duhsala. He’s also got a half brother named Yuyutsu so technically a hundred brothers.”

“What...the fuck.”

“Yeah, even weirder is both my parents always know whos who.”

“I feel like that’s the most normal thing.”

“My dad’s blind and my mother always wears a blindfold.”

“Karna, where the fuck do you find these people?” Karna shrugged in response to Gil’s question. Ozy’s face was still contorted in shock. When he finally broke out of it, he had a simple question.

“Wait, he has a brother named Karna?”

“Why do you think he calls me Vasusena?”  
-  
-  
-  
This is was a horrible plan. This was even worse than risking Rama’s heart to get rid of Tamamo. Siegfried was literally helping him get someone drunk without their notice. Oh, how he had fallen. What’s even worse is Arjuna got dragged off by Medb halfway through which left him to deal with the whole thing with only sparse texts being his guide. 

There was a large group of people in The Dragon, a bar owned by Vlad ‘I-am-not-a-vampire-I-swear-to-god’ Tepes, a majority of them fellow students. Normally he would have never allowed this type of party full of high schoolers, but this was a special occasion. To explain why Shuten had bought out the bar for the night and Vlad was out of town leaving Carmilla in charge. However, Carmilla was currently tied up in the back, courtesy of her younger sister Elizabeth, which left Karna in charge. Karna wouldn’t argue with what Shuten would ask since it was her party, which meant lots of alcohol and lots of drinking.

Gilgamesh had brought along his best friend Enkidu, who brought along their...sibling. Siegfried wasn’t actually sure what the relation between Enkidu and Kingu was. Neither was anyone else for that matter. It didn’t change much though, Kingu spent the whole time sipping at a single soda as their dead purple eyes watched the party. Gilgamesh was very adamant in showing off Enkidu to everyone, Siegfried knew this because he had been the victim of it three times already.

Not about to be outdone, Ozymandias brought his girlfriend, Nefertari, and showed her off as well. Moses was at home as he was not about to bring his younger brother to a party of underage drinking. Siegfried had also been introduced to her three times. He was glad he had to meet Duryodhana already or he feared Karna might do the same. Though, maybe he wouldn’t in all honesty.

Arjuna texted him to make sure Karna drank from the glass water bottle labeled with a blue star. Vlad made sure there was always bottles of cold water ready for those who either wanted to stay sober or those who were cut off from the alcohol. Arjuna had helped Karna fill up the bottles for the party, though Siegfried was unsure just how much alcohol was in it now.

Elizabeth was sipping on a glass of cold milk with a sourpuss look on her face. She wanted to drink a sparkling wine as an idol would, but Karna had very bluntly told her no. The 14-year-old insisted on it, rejecting sparkling non-alcoholic cider and soda. She also refused to accept water nor its sparkling verity, so Karna gave her a glass of milk and went to serve another guest. She was thankful it was at least put in a very fancy glass.  
-  
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Shuten was lounging in Kintoki’s lap, downing shots of vodka as fast as Karna would fill them. 36 shots in, she still wasn’t anywhere close to drunk. Kintoki had forgone any alcohol for the night, both to make sure his girlfriend got home safe and to avoid Raikou’s wrath of him participating in such activities. 

To Karna’s non-surprise, Shuten drank both Gilgamesh and Ozymandias under the table. So far, Enkidu had yet to look drunk at their own 36th shot. They were in a conversation about their younger relatives, Ibaraki and Kingu respectably. Ibaraki was a delinquent just like Shuten, while Kingu worked part-time haunting carousel rides. At least, that what they called working at a theme park.

“Oh, Karna,” Mata Hari, a full-time worker at the bar, called out to the teenager, “Can you get me another water bottle?”

Karna grabbed a bottle from under the counter and tossed it over to the woman, who caught it effortlessly and poured the drunk teens some water that they probably still thought was vodka. Mata made her way to the counter with the half-full bottle, her jewelry jingling as she walked. She pulled out an empty cup and filled it with water before handing it to Karna.

“Drink up, you’ll need it if this party goes on any longer, teehee!”

She wasn’t wrong, the party started with Karna’s shift at 6 and it was nearly 11 now. Karna had planned to work until the party ended since they had a day off from school the next day. He accepted the glass and downed it quickly, thanking his co-worker who went back to filling the drunk patrons' glasses with water. 

Siegfried had been listening to Duryodhana’s drunken tale of when he and Karna ‘borrowed’ Surya’s car and drove around at top speeds right outside of town. The only person mad was his chauffeur, Aruna, who was mainly upset at the broken mirror. Well, that and the fact they had been illegally driving but Duryodhana believed it was mostly the mirror that caused the scolding. Not that he had any idea how that happened. 

Duryodhana’s head suddenly snapped towards Karna, who wasn’t looking all too good. Mata had rushed back behind the counter to check on him, where he unceremoniously fell forward onto her in a moment of having no balance. Specifically, his head landed on her chest. Mata pulled him up and sat him on a chair. In the process, she had set down the glass bottle and Siegfried saw the blue star.

 _Oh. Shit._  
-  
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Duryodhana had rushed over, only to find he was far too drunk at the moment to even consider bringing Karna home. The task naturally landed on Siegfried, the only person not drunk and who wasn’t covering for someone already. Duryodhana apologized for making him do this, though Siegfried believed he was more apologizing to Karna for not keeping his alcohol consumption far more moderate. Karna was supposed to be the one to take Duryodhana home, but now with his own intoxication that wouldn’t be happening. Arjuna wasn’t even an option as he and Medb had disappeared around 9. Siegfried was rather concerned about that, but he had more pressing matters to attend to. 

Hosting Karna up onto his back, Siegfried waved goodbye and left the bar. He promised Duryodhana that he would get their friend back home safety, both out of concern for Karna and slight fear that the other teen might murder him if he didn’t. He texted Arjuna to ask where he was before heading off towards Karna’s house. 

Um, it was this way right?  
-  
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Arjuna was quite ready to end his friendship with Medb after watching Cu’s bedroom window with her in a tree for the past 2 hours. Really, he had no idea if Siegfried had even completed his assigned task because Medb took his phone and shoved it down her shirt. He wasn’t getting it back until she gave it back.

At least he still had the manga he had gotten that morning, so while Medb focused her attention on the bedroom he could read. He had to give Jalter credit, her ability to keep proportions the same throughout the pages had gotten better much better. So had her writing. Though there was no way he or Karna would ever say these sorts of things- and yes, he was still sure they were supposed to be based off them. The likeness was too uncanny to be an accident. 

What made this entire annoying, however, was the fact that Cu had gone to sleep an hour ago so there was no need for them to still be here. But noooo, Medb needed to watch her ‘Cu-chan’ for just a little bit longer. Honesty, he had no ideas why they were friends. It would be far more logical for her to simply set up hidden security cams in his room and watch from where ever she was.

 

Not that he knew anything about that.  
-  
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When Siegfried finally got Karna home after nearly ending up at the other side of town, Karna was half awake and mainly rambling as Siegfried tucked him into bed. He considered changing Karna’s clothes into something more comfortable before decided Karna was far too out of it for that to be acceptable. Siegfried was about to leave the room when Karna called him over to talk. Not being one to deny a request- even if it went against his moral compass, he sat on the bed next to Karna.

“Sho...so, have I ever told you ‘bout the time Juna proposed to me?”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“It was reel, real cute. We were little kids, I think I was like...8 or 9. Juna was 6 or 7. So it’s my birthday party, and Duryo’s there, Yuddy is there, Bhima, Nakula and Sahadeva are like really young so they didn’t have do much. Oh and Krishna was there too”

"I... don’t know who that last person is.”

“You’ll meet him at one point or other. Know, now, mom was takin a video and I can’t remember what was asked but Juna came runnin up and holdin my arm sayin ‘No way! I’m marrying older brother when I get bigger!’ and it was friggin adorable.”

The lopsided smile on Karna’s flushed face was made even more adorable by how his eyes brighten at the memory. 

“I dunno he if’en remembers it, but it was really cute. I think ma still has the video.”

After that, Karna fell asleep under his covers and Siegfried moved to wait in the living room for either Duryodhana or Arjuna. He had gotten a call from Mata a few minutes after Karna fell asleep to tell him she’d drive Duryodhana to Karna’s house, which she weirdly already had directions to. She just giggled when questioned about it, saying it was a co-workers thing. As he waited, he thought back to what Karna had said. He wondered if that’s what spurred Arjuna to want Karna’s attention so much, but he was already the main focus of his brother’s life so it didn’t seem to fit. He’s probably just overthinking it.  
-  
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Arjuna sneezed, surprising Medb. She had been trying to get a closer look and was leaning off the branch, but the sudden noise from Arjuna made her loosen her grip in shock. She managed to hit every tree branch on the way down. Somehow, Cu was still fast asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apparently decided none of the first three drafts were good enough so here's this.
> 
>  
> 
> ~~wonder if I should do Karna's pov as an extra for that horror thing...~~


	8. The Video

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aka: How To Embarrass Your Brother In About Three Minutes.

When Arjuna finally got home, it was about 2 AM. He had left around 1 after an awkward guessing game where Medb asked him to guess which bra cup she had hid his phone in order to get said phone back. It shall never be spoken of again after that. He also needed to get a new case and burn his current one.

The worst part, when he woke up at the unreasonable time of nearly noon- at least to him, Duryodhana was still there, he had no idea why Siegfried was still here, Medb was apparently here as well, and for some reason, his mother was here-

 **Oh dear god, his mother was here**.  
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Arjuna had his face buried into the pillow, his mother was fretting over him being at the party. She had originally scolded Karna for what had happened until Siegfried calmly explained to her that Karna had no intention of drinking and what had happened was out of his control. She then went to fretting over the both of them, Arjuna over disappearing and Karna for concern that he had possibly been roofied. Duryodhana was chuckling under the blankets on the floor, nursing a hangover. 

Kunti had Karna’s head cradled in her lap as he nursed his own unwanted and mysteriously gotten a hangover. Arjuna was curled up on the couch next to Siegfried who felt somewhat awkward in this situation. He wasn’t entirely sure why he had stayed overnight himself. He believed the reason of not wanting to leave the two drunk teens alone until Arjuna returned home. For some reason, Medb had shown up through the window at around 7. 

Speaking of Medb, she was lounging in a large chair, drinking a sparkling cider from a champagne glass. No one was sure where she had gotten either, but no one was really in the mood to question her about it. She was looking through her phone with a bored look in her eyes. She also got up periodically to refill her glass. 

“Ah, did you bring the video?”

Duryodhana, Arjuna, and Medb looked over at Karna. Only Siegfried and Kunti knew what he was referring to. At the sight of Kunti’s smile, Duryodhana started to laugh while Arjuna buried his face deeper into the pillow. Medb just drank from her glass as she continued to stare, having no clue what was going on.

Arjuna was going to die from embarrassment and the fact Siegfried would certainly now know why he had been asking for his help. His plan was ruined. Siegfried was going to win. Game over. No prize for being second place. It was over. 

And Medb would _never_ let him live it down. 

When he peaked up from the pillow, his mother was fast forwarding the video to _that_ part. He buried his face back into the elephant’s side, prepared to die from the teasing. He had a good run.  
~  
~  
~  
_“-ya, look at the camera,” a younger Kunti called out to a man who looked very similar to Karna. Really the only difference was his hair was slightly darker and much, much longer. He currently had a mouth full of food, looking a little bashful yet annoyed at the camera. His chauffeur, Aruna, was examining a gift bag with a juice box hanging from his lips in a way that made it obvious it was for a posed picture. A click was heard next to the video camera, and with that, the scene was immortalized. Surya huffed and went back to eating his cake, with Aruna winking at the camera._

_The video shifted focus to a much younger Karna, who was eating a sphere-shaped sweet, sitting in front of a child who himself was eating butter. The two were chatting before it was cut off by the other child getting up and going off somewhere. Karna didn’t seem to mind._

_“Hm? Karna, look over here.”_

_Karna looked up at the camera, the cold look in his big eyes was offset by him munching on the sweet in his hands. He got up and walked towards the camera, finishing his sweet. Kunti crouched down and the camera was at Karna’s head height now._

_“Ah, are...are you enjoying your party?” There’s an obvious awkwardness in her voice._

_“Mhm...it wasn’t necessary...but it’s fun.”_

_“That’s goo-”_

_A loud ‘NO’ rings through the backyard as a small body is suddenly holding onto Karna’s arm. A very young Arjuna has a pout as he holds the arm closer to him, in an ineffective way of trying to cover Karna from the camera. He’s trying to glare at the camera, and not his mother, but it only looks like he’s squinting in the sunlight._

_“Oh, what’s wrong Arjuna?”_

_“Ka’na’s not leaving is he?”_

_“The party only started a little bit ago…”_

_“Because he’s not allowed to!”_

_“Oh ho? Why’s that mini-Indra?” Aruna cuts in, suddenly behind both children with a curious smile on his face._

_“Because I’m going to marry him!”_

_There’s a silence around the party. No one is quite sure how to react to such a declaration. Aruna’s face became one of a blank stare with a small smile directed at the camera. Surya was staring with a piece of cake halfway in his mouth. The boy’s brothers were also looking at them, having stopped their game from the commotion. The boy from before had a small smile as he looked around nervously. A younger Duryodhana looked just as confused as everyone else at the moment._

_“Uh, what?”_

_“I’m going to marry big brother so he doesn’t have to leave anymore!”_

_“You know what, have fun with that.” With that Aruna left the scene, giving a shrug to the camera. He presumably went back to Surya who still hadn't finished the cake piece. Kunti let out a nervous laugh._

_“Uh, Arjuna, honey, you can’t just marry your brother like that…”_

_The small child had a moment of thought, “Then I’ll just marry him when I’m bigger!”_

_There was no way to change his decision. He had a plan and he would stick with it. That was just the type of kid he was._  
~  
~  
~  
There was no way to stifle Duryodhana and Medb’s laughter at the scene. Kunti had a soft smile, speaking of how awkward yet adorable the time was now that she looked back on it. Arjuna had hidden under a blanket, unwilling to grace the others with his reaction.

“Ah, my little brother is adorable isn’t he?”

Said little brother pressed his face into the pillow even more to curb the blush that crept onto his cheeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Will Arjuna's plans be ruined? Who is that kid eating butter? Why is Medb there?_
> 
>  
> 
> Who knows!
> 
>  
> 
> ~~Spoiler: No. Someone probably knows. I actually have no idea.~~


	9. Dear God Now There’s Three of Them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Arjuna, who is this?”_
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> _“Oh, you know. God.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aka: This Was Supposed To Be Posted Hours Ago But I Started Thinking of a Grail War Idea And Lost Track of Time

The first thing Siegfried expected to see in the library was definitely NOT some pretty boy lounging on the table. Not on a chair, not on the floor, not even against a wall, the table. He was also eating straight from a container of...is...is that butter?

_Nope. Nope. Nope. Not today._

Siegfried turned to leave the room, not at all prepared for what was to come, only to have Arjuna push him back inside and lock the door. There was no way of getting out of it. He signed and accepted his fate once again. But there was one thing he had to know.

“Arjuna, who is this?”

“Oh, you know. God.”  
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As it turned out, ‘God’ was actually just Krishna. He must have been the unknown child from the video, just how many people ate butter like that? How many people ate plain butter for that matter. The surprising thing was the fact he was, as he put it, Arjuna’s most beloved, important, and dearest friend. Arjuna said that they were one in the same with a rather happy smile on his face.

That made Siegfried become worried immediately. If they were one and the same...did that mean he was also here to get Karna’s attention? With how Arjuna went about it, it was terrifying to think there was someone so similar. That, and Siegfried wasn’t sure he could deal with two Arjunas.

While he wasn’t sure what Krishna’s motive was, he wasn’t as bad as Arjuna with his plans. No, he was worse. His plans were so detailed Siegfried was now terrified of him. Seriously, he had every possible outcome planned out. Any disturbance that could cause the plan to go awry or fail would have a backup to counteract it. Suddenly, Arjuna seemed like the tame one compared to him.

He was now afraid for Karna’s safety. The alcohol thing was definitely a step too far but Karna had only suffered a bad hangover from that, so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. But, if that’s where Arjuna went at this point and time, where those two would go now made him incredibly worried.

“Ah, why are you here so early in the morning?”

“I’m a chapter late so I might as well make up for it.”

 

 _What on earth was he talking about?_  
-  
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“Hey, Arjuna? Why is your friend having a staring contest with the health teacher?”

Arjuna looked over to where Medb was pointing. Krishna was engaged in a very intense staring contest with Merlin, who was so casual with the student none of them ever referred to him as ‘Mr. Merlin’. He smiled, Krishna had a plan that would surely work out perfectly in the end.

“Dude. Stop smiling like that. People are staring.”  
-  
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When Siegfried returned to the storage room, he found a horrifying scene. Arjuna, Krishna, and Merlin were all standing around the table planning something. If he was quiet enough, he could leave without any of them noticing. He just had to take a few steps back and-

“Ahahaha, don’t think you’re getting out of this Siegfried,~’ Merlin called out in a way that made it obvious he was smirking.

He found himself being dragged back in the room by Arjuna with a strength he had never seen before from him. Siegfried resigned himself to his fate. There were now three maniacs he had to deal with. What had he done to deserve this? Well...there was that one time- no, that time will never be mentioned again. It was not something that needed to be acknowledged at this point and time. Or ever.  
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Duryodhana had a few questions. One, why the heck was Krishna here? Two, why was he getting Karna to help him with homework when normally he would just go to Arjuna if he had any trouble. Three, why the hell was he here? Four, why on earth were they in the theater for English homework? Four, why was he even here, Krishna only dragged Karna along here. Five, why the fuck was Krishna here? Six, and most importantly, why was he using Karna’s lap as a pillow?

“Ah, could you explain this again?”

Actually, scratch that, why had they been here for four hours?! There were two possible explanations Duryodhana could think of. Either Krishna is stalling for a prank of his, or he’s really just so bad at English that he needed to go to another school to get help. He wasn’t sure a prank would need a four hour wait time of pretending to be horrible at a subject, so he went with the second option. Which was kinda sad now that he thought about it. But it was Krishna so who cares.

“What is a contronym?”

“A word that is its own opposite.”

“Ah.”

 

Or...maybe Karna was the one getting the help.  
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Siegfried had no idea how on earth they managed to fit all these flowers into the sheet without tearing the petals off. Why Krishna had a sheet that big, he will mostly never know. He isn’t sure he wants to know. Arjuna just told him to stop questioning things at this point.

They were in a somewhat hidden location. Unless you were looking for them you wouldn’t notice them. That made it ideal for spying on people. Why Merlin knew that...well Siegfried was better off never questioning it. At least that’s what he decided.

Karna was walking down the hall, alone. Duryodhana was preoccupied with Merlin who, since Duryodhana was a temporary student, needed to get certain things down for the school record. The nurses had left already which left him to do the job. Once again, Siegfried was unsure if the man was serious or not. But regardless, it had worked. Now all they had to do was release the sheet.

Thankfully, the sheet hadn’t just plummeted down as he’d feared, but let the copious amount of flowers collected in it float down on Karna. He looked around, trying to find the source of them but found nothing he could see easily. The expression on his face made both Siegfried and Arjuna cover their own- lest the other see their blush. After the petals stop falling and Karna ceased to be mesmerized, he started to clean them up to save any remaining janitor more work. Not quite knowing where to put them, he managed to stuff every last flower and petal into the bag. Maybe that ability was genetic?

Duryodhana caught up to Karna, with a slightly annoyed expression on his face. He had to do each test and measurement twice as the teacher would either write down the wrong thing, not write it at all, or think it was a lucky break. How on earth could one get a lucky break on a height measurement?! Karna nodded sympathetically as he listened to his friend’s complaints.  
  
Meanwhile, Krishna had slapped both Siegfried and Arjuna upside the head when they returned to the storage room.

“You had the perfect opportunity to confess and you blew it!”

“Sorry…”

He shook his head with his arms crossed, sharing a disappointed look with Merlin who was munching on a cake. Not a single slice mind you, an entire cake. With no utensils. Merlin was definitely a strange man.  
-  
-  
-  
When Arjuna arrived home with Krishna in tow, they found Karna sitting on the floor with thousands of flowers surrounding him. Many were still loose flowers, but others were tied together to make garlands. He was currently making one, of which the others had completely covered up Duryodhana who was lying face down on the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wonder if I should post that grail war...


	10. Garlands Galore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Krishna announced he had the perfect plan and if Siegfried and Arjuna messed up he was going to strangle at least one of them the garlands. He said it in such a carefree tone, however, so Siegfried wasn’t sure if he was supposed to take him seriously or not. He decided it was best to take it seriously, there was just something off about that guy. Not quite to the extent of Merlin, but it was close._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aka: Flowers Are A Sign Of Rivalry In Love According To Arjuna

The next day, nearly everyone- from teacher to students to that one weird janitor, got a well-crafted garland as a gift. When Rama said he wanted to give one to Sita, but was unsure if he could get it to her without it being crushed by the end of the day, Nightingale ran out of the school with Rama and Sita’s garland in her arms as her patient was screaming his head off as she jumped over three cars during a green light just so they wouldn’t have to wait the few extra seconds. She retorted back that it was important to his health that they got to her as soon as possible. It was quite the sight for everyone in the commons area. Ryuunosuke asked for a red one with an unsettling grin on his face. A student who looked very similar to Arjuna’s study hall teacher just shook his head and dragged Ryuunosuke away much to the redhead's disappointment. 

When Siegfried arrived at the storage room with his own garland, and he hadn’t blushed when he received it no matter what Astolfo said, and found the other three also had their own. Though that was expected, Karna had more than enough to give out. Krishna looked quite happy with his blue and purple flowers, while Merlin looked...far too pleased with the pure white flowers he had convinced Karna to give him since he was planning on getting rid of that particular garland. Arjuna was glaring at Siegfried’s garland though maybe he just had something in his eyes. Maybe he was upset he and the other teen had the same colors of red and yellow? Whatever it was, Arjuna went back to looking at the corkboard. He was glaring at it as well, so that could explain the earlier one.

Krishna announced he had the perfect plan and if Siegfried and Arjuna messed up he was going to strangle at least one of them the garlands. He said it in such a carefree tone, however, so Siegfried wasn’t sure if he was supposed to take him seriously or not. He decided it was best to take it seriously, there was just something off about that guy. Not quite to the extent of Merlin, but it was close. 

Speaking of the teacher, he was eating an orange with the peel still on.   
-  
-  
-  
The plan was very simple. Karna was free for exactly five minutes right after school let out. After that, Duryodhana would be waiting with him for Krishna and Arjuna- even he if complained about it. That meant Siegfried had to be fast getting there and fast confessing. Unbeknownst to him, Krishna told Arjuna the same thing except with an extra emphasis on how fast he had to be. Merlin had a pair of binoculars set up for him and Krishna to watch, taking an odd amount of joy in seeing all of this play out. 

Unfortunately for Arjuna, as he made his way there he was stopped by the one and only Raikou. She herself had a garland, in fact, she made quite the deal over telling everyone how her extended-half-brother made it. Anyone who encountered her would hear about it, especially Kintoki. He had to suffer through nine of those conversations that day. She didn’t look like she was going to gush about their half-brother, however. 

“Arjuna, I’ve gotten a report that someone has been stalking Karna. I want to know if I should call for someone or if it’s a simple misunderstanding.”

_Shit._  
-  
-  
-  
Luckily for Siegfried, for once he was not held up by anything. So he made it with about four minutes to spare. That was plenty of time to confess his feelings. Or it would have been if he hadn’t just stood awkwardly next to Karna trying to figure out what to say for half of that time. 

“Uh, Karna?”

“Yes?”

“I,” if Siegfried kept this up it would take the next two minutes just to say anything, “I wanted to…”

“Hm?”

“I wanted to thank you for the garland. It’s very nice.”

“Aa, thank you.”

He may have messed up, but that smile was worth the possible strangulation.

 

Meanwhile, in the hidden location, Krishna and Merlin facepalmed. Really, these guys were pathetic at love. Maybe Merlin should give them some pointers…  
-  
-  
-  
At Karna’s house, Arjuna was still being held up by Raikou, so it was only Karna, Duryodhana, and Krishna at the moment. Krishna was using Karna’s lap as a pillow once more, lamenting how he kept trying to help Arjuna with his love life only for Arjuna to mess up the plan. Karna listened on sympathetically, though he was confused about the situation. His brother hasn’t given any signs of being in love with someone, maybe he was just embarrassed by it. 

“I’m trying my best here and for some reason, it just won’t work. All the backups fail. I just can’t understand why none of the plans work! This has never happened before...”

“Ah, do you need me to help then?”

Krishna’s eyes were suddenly shining with glee. He got up and hugged Karna’s around his neck, with a suddenness that almost made Karna fall over. Krishna’s speech was a blur of praises and thank-you’s. It was a bit much for Karna to hear all at once and he felt his face heat up from all the praises. 

 

Duryodhana glared at the display, Krishna was planning something and he wasn’t a fan of the feeling that came with that. Or maybe that was just the macaroons again. Whatever it was, he didn’t like it.  
-  
-  
-  
When Arjuna returned home, at around 9, Karna had already left for work. Duryodhana was asleep on the couch, well, half on the couch and half on the floor. Arjuna’s dinner was covered up so it would still be hot when he returned home. Bringing the plate into his room, he found Krishna sitting on his bed. Eating butter with a cheeky little smile on his face. 

 

In another part of town, Siegfried felt a disturbance from an unknown source.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To those who know color significance in India, you'll get an extra little joke in the garlands that are shown.


	11. A Day Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _'Due to a particularly unfortunate series of events that involved an elephant as large as a whale’s tongue, a box of tiny jaguars, a random greek cat in a greek hat, and Cu getting struck by lightning during a cloudless morning, school had been canceled for the day. Krishna’s knowing smile was very suspicious to Duryodhana. The teen laughed off his suspicion as he ate his breakfast.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aka: Someone Will Probably Be Upset With This

Due to a particularly unfortunate series of events that involved an elephant as large as a whale’s tongue, a box of tiny jaguars, a random greek cat in a greek hat, and Cu getting struck by lightning during a cloudless morning, school had been canceled for the day. Krishna’s knowing smile was very suspicious to Duryodhana. The teen laughed off his suspicion as he ate his breakfast. 

Krishna’s actual plan was very different. It was nearly impossible to mess up since he had Karna unknowingly helping out with getting one of those two to confess. Merlin was more interested in seeing what would happen if they both confessed. He said it had something to do with enjoying playing with people. Krishna made a mental note to keep at least a foot in distance away from him when alone.

The plan involved getting Duryodhana away from Karna for the duration of the plan. That was made easy with a quick little visit to Gilgamesh and Ozymandias saying it was for a surprise for Karna. Strangely, both asked Krishna how he got into their room. Admittedly, he should have knocked at Gilgamesh’s place. He was not expecting what he saw at all. He’d rather not talk about it. 

The next part of the plan was for Arjuna and Siegfried to each take Karna on a date. Though, they couldn’t say it was a date. And to Siegfried’s knowledge, Arjuna was simply getting an opportunity to be the center of his brother’s attention. It wasn’t technically lying, so Krishna saw no problem with letting the white-haired teen believe that. Whoever could confess and get their feelings reciprocated would win. That last part was added by Merlin. 

So far it was working. Gilgamesh and Ozymandias took off with Duryodhana and Arjuna could start off until noon in which he would leave Karna for a few hours where it would then switch off to Siegfried. Yes, there was no way for this to go wrong.  
-  
-  
-  
“Karna. I want to go to the amusement park.”

“Oh,” Karna thought back to what Krishna told him. He explained that due to the consistent failures, Arjuna was getting stressed and Karna should spend some time with him to help him relax. He didn’t need a reason to hang out with his brother, but he did admit it made him a little happy Arjuna was seeking him out to go somewhere like when they were kids. “Of course, when would you like to go?”

“Um...Now-ish?”

“Alright, let’s go.”

That was why the two were now standing in front of an extreme roller coaster named Thunder Wave, a remake of the park’s oversea coaster in its Japanese park. Arjuna chose this purely for how fast it was, counting on Karna needing to hold onto him during the ride. It would only be for at most 90 seconds, but it would work in Arjuna’s favor.

Or, at least that’s what he planned. It was not what happened at all. Arjuna had not anticipated just how going down 66.4 meters at 130 kilometers per hour would feel to someone who hadn’t ridden a roller coaster since he was 12. He, embarrassingly, was the one clinging to Karna, who himself was having the time of his life. Arjuna was sure his knuckles were permanently white from how tightly he was holding onto his brother. Not just Karna’s arm mind you, Arjuna was straight up hugging his brother. The ride was only 90 seconds but it felt so much longer. 

Once they were off the ride, Karna was full of adrenaline and pulled his brother off to another coaster. Arjuna, still a bit shook from the last one, just let Karna drag him along. He wasn’t about to ruin Karna’s good mood. Well...maybe. He didn’t quite like the look in his eyes when he saw the 4D roller coaster. 

After going through 14 of the extreme roller coasters twice, Arjuna was almost completely tired out. Karna was smiling nearly as much as when Duryodhana first showed up unannounced and reminded Arjuna of a child who was given the opportunity to do whatever they wanted for a day. It was rather adorable and made the tiredness a bit more bearable. 

“Ah, Arjuna, we should take a look at this ride! Look, it’s a dark ride with two parts. One’s fast and another’s slow. We should take the fast one first and then go on the slow one to cool down. It’ll be a break from the bright outside rides. Ah, maybe we should do the slow one first and the fast one second.”

Arjuna was going to die. How on earth was he supposed to keep up with an adrenaline-filled Karna? A normal Karna, he could easily do that, but Karna drunk on adrenaline? No, he would get a migraine and die from exhaustion before his brother even began to tire out. God, he could feel a bad headache already starting. 

“Hm? Arjuna, are you okay?”

Karna had leaned in close with a hand on Arjuna’s forehead, checking his temperature. He was a bit warmer than usual, but that could be passed off as simply his blood rushing from all the coasters. Oh, he was much warmer now. Why was that?

Arjuna felt his face heat up quickly with how close Karna was. He gulped and quickly looked away, hoping the other hadn’t notice. Well, he did. Just not in the way Arjuna expected.

Karna must have decided what to do by himself, as with no warning he scooped Arjuna up in his arms and started heading towards the exit. Arjuna covered his now even redder face with his hands. People were staring and it was embarrassing.

“Karna. What are you doing?”

“You’re not feeling well, so I’m taking you home.”

“I’m fine! Let’s just go to that ride.”

“I can see through that bullshit Arjuna.”

“But-”

“No. We’re going home. Don’t push yourself when you don’t need to.

The 16-year-old just accepted his fate and buried his head into Karna’s shoulder. Karna let out a light hum, oblivious to the stares of onlookers. Had Arjuna been looking, he would have seen the soft smile that formed on his brother’s face.

 

Ah, it really was like they were little kids again.  
-  
-  
-  
Krishna sighed as he watched the scene play out from inside one of the shops. Really, Arjuna should have anticipated the rush Karna would get. That’s the main reason they stopped going to theme parks about four years ago, Karna wouldn’t want to leave until he went on every single extreme ride at least four times. It was very time consuming and expensive. And Karna wouldn’t settle down for days afterward. The infamous Ashwatthama-Milk incident was a direct result of that. 

Maybe Siegfried would have better luck. 

“Sir? Are you going to order anything? You’ve just been standing there for about ten minutes.”

“Oh right, I was doing something before that segway. Is there any butter flavor?”  
-  
-  
-  
After Arjuna was tucked in for a nap, Karna checked in on Duryodhana. He seemed to be having fun, so far there weren’t any reports of random fires sparking up. Karna wasn’t quite sure how that kept happening around his friend. 

Around 2 PM, Karna received a text from Siegfried asking if he was available to hang out. Still filled with adrenaline, he agreed. He left a note for his brother and headed out towards the movie theater. Mainly because after telling Siegfried they had been at the theme park, he suggested they go somewhere inside and cold just in case Karna was close to overheating himself. While he accepted the concern, Karna wasn’t sure it was possible for him to overheat. Seriously, Surya could rival the sun with the heat that radiated off him when he was angry. 

There were a few choices in movies, the usual genres were there as well as a few unusual ones. One was even described as a ‘Stockholm syndrome rape fantasy romance drama soap opera’. They decided to avoid that one completely. Who would even greenlight that? 

The final decision landed on a horror comedy simply called Reaper. 

It was definitely an interesting movie, it started off as a typical horror movie. Gore and an unseen force chasing- no, power walking, after a poor salaryman. The first thing to catch both of them off guard was not the sudden humor of the reaper reporting in and literally losing her head, but the fact she was played by Astolfo. And the fact Astolfo was playing an emotionless and dead-eyed character was even more of a twist. This...couldn’t be happening, right?

No, it was certainly happening. His pink hair may have been covered up by the short black wig, and his voice might have been in a monotone, but it was definitely Astolfo. Karna and Siegfried found more humor in that entire scenario than many of the actual jokes. Though, that could be contributed to the fact their friend must have talked the director into letting him do his usual energetic poses but with the bored look of the main character. The best one was when doing his signature peace sign pose, his character’s head fell off and rolled under the couch. The body then fell down, still in the pose. 

“I’ve only got 24 hours to live! What could be worse than that?”

“We’ve been trying to contact you since yesterday.”

Karna choked on his drink and Siegfried nearly did the same with his popcorn. They saw the joke coming, but the girl’s expression was so exaggerated it was hard not to laugh. Some guy in the audience was crackling manically. They could have sworn he reminded them of Henry Jekyll from school. 

After the movie and an odd encounter with that Henry lookalike, Siegfried and Karna walked back to Karna’s house. There was a good thing about the adrenaline in Karna’s system, it meant they could continue a conversation for far longer without their social awkwardness getting in the way. It was rather cute-

“I really like spending time with you.”

Oh yes, just say that with no build up. Good job Siegfried. There will be no downsides to this.

“Ah,” It had caught Karna by surprise, “I enjoy spending time with you as well.”

“Um, I...uh, Karna?”

“Yes?”

“Can I hold your hand?”

Karna nodded, which Siegfried took as a personal victory. Their conversation about the movie continued. It wasn’t something big but it was good enough for now.  
-  
-  
-  
Merlin had stopped tailing the two a while back, taking to hiding in an alleyway. How was he supposed to know Vivian would be at the movie theater? That darn restraining order. It wasn’t his fault that window was open and he certainly didn’t know she was naked. Nor did he know the next four times. Honest!

Hmm...He really wanted some cake now.  
-  
-  
-  
Duryodhana returned at around 5 PM, plopping himself down next to Karna on the couch. 

“So, how was your day?”

“Spent some time at the amusement park with Arjuna and went to see a movie with Siegfried.”

“Oo, fun.”

“What about you?”

“We made a bonfire and roasted a feast over it.”

“Aa.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~Time for sleep.~~
> 
>  
> 
> Haha, it’s a fake out chapter


	12. Who's Idea Was This?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Say, Siegfried...what size skirt do you wear?”_
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> _“16, why?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aka: This Was Supposed To Be Posted Yesterday So Two Chapters Today

“Merlin I don’t want to know how or why you have the restraining order.”

“Oh phoo! Don’t ruin the fun kid.”

Siegfried ignored Merlin. Arjuna was standing on a block as Krishna put that last finishing touches on the uniform. Krishna’s smile wasn’t comforting in slightest when he asked what it was for. Neither was that glint in his eye.

“Say, Siegfried...what size skirt do you wear?”

“16, why?”  
-  
-  
-  
This was a horrible plan. First off, Siegfried was far too broad in the shoulders for this to work. Second off, there was no way he’d be able to pass as a woman. Not that Krishna or Merlin cared for his thoughts on the plan. 

Another thing was how well Arjuna was pulling off the disguise. It was similar to Astolfo expect Arjuna had gone an extra mile with a wig and a fake chest. Krishna himself made sure it was almost impossible to tell that ‘ _Brihannala_ ’ was actually Arjuna. Siegfried still had no idea why he was cross-dressing. Merlin just laughed as he ate his banana with the peel still on when he asked. 

Siegfried was desperately hoping Karna wouldn’t see them like this. It was embarrassing to be seen like this. Mainly because he definitely was not passing as a girl like this. Seriously, who thought this was a good idea? He meant normal people and not Krishna and Merlin. Who ate butter straight from the container and bananas with the peel still on?

He was thankful Merlin had given them both passes for the day, Siegfried was not prepared for gym class in the female uniform. He was also not prepared to go to any class while cross-dressing. Arjuna looked a little too comfortable in the uniform though. Maybe the fact it was just before Halloween so he could deal with it far more easily? 

“Oh hey, are you two new here?”

...How on earth could Sieg not recognize him?  
-  
-  
-  
“WHO KNOCKED OVER THE FLOWERS?”

The entire class cringed at the sudden rage coming from the teacher. Merlin had been smiling just a second early and was now yelling accusations at the top of his lungs. First it was Gudako, then it was Mash, then it Gudako again, then it was Shirou Emiya, then it was Sieg, Gudako again, then Ryuunosuke, then Tamamo, then that poor guy that looked like the creepy teacher, Gudako once again, Jalter was next, then it was Artoria, and finally it ended on Gudako once more. For that last accusation, Gudako had ran from the class with some strange cat-squirrel creature poking out from her jacket. Merlin chased after her, leaving the rest of the class alone. 

Romani Archaman looked out the nurse’s office, confused at the commotion coming from somewhere. Nightingale was keeping track of Rama’s vitals after his heart began to beat too quickly after a text from Sita. It was very tame and Nightingale was unsure what part made this happen to her patient. His face had been completely red as he passed out in his chair. Roman was taken from his break to help her out by holding the materials she needed. Really, he was the head nurse and here he was being commanded by a student’s personal nurse. Not that he’d complain to her, no, she was far too terrifying for that. 

“Yo, Roman,” Da Vinci, the art teacher, rolled into the office on a skateboard and a full wine glass in hand, “You will not believe what just happened.”  
-  
-  
-  
Arjuna found yet another doujin left by Jalter, once again the character seemed far too similar to him and his brother for a coincidence. This one seemed a bit tamer- oh that transitioned quickly. It was 90% porn. Well, he could save this for later…

“Ah, Arjuna, what are you doing?”

“Huh! What! Nothing!” 

Siegfried raised an eyebrow as Arjuna stuffed something down his shirt. He coughed and turned to face the other teen with a calmed face. He hoped the other didn’t notice anything major. 

“So…”

“Krishna said we should be on the lookout for Karna. You can try and make your move like this.”

“Alright...why are you cross-dressing then?”

“I don’t need to tell you everything about my personal life.”

“Sorry.”  
-  
-  
-  
“Hey Karna, can you get something for me?”

“Aa, of course.”  
-  
-  
-  
Karna opened the door to the classroom to find two students already in it. Hmm, they seemed new. Maybe they were lost and just decided to- wait a moment.

“Arjuna? Siegfried?”

The two teens’ heads shot towards Karna who stood in the doorway with a box in hand. They shared a look before smiling awkwardly at the white-haired teen waiting for an answer. Siegfried was silently chosen to do the explanation.

“We can explain.”

As Karna waited for an explanation, Arjuna kept a nervous smile on his face as he tried not to look directly at his brother. God damn it, Merlin was supposed to intercept him before he came here. The plan was supposed to go off after lunch. This was way too soon and neither of them were fully prepared. Now if only Siegfried wasn’t just apologizing instead of explaining.

“Oh hey Karna, did you get the-”

As soon as Krishna turned the corner, Karna himself turned around to face the teen. Krishna had been rushing so he hadn’t had time to slow himself before he saw Karna. The sudden silence was deafening. Krishna backed away slowly with wide eyes, leaving the three alone in the room. Karna turned back to the other two whose mouths were agape.

“So, are there any decorations in here?”

He’s just going to ignore what just happened!?  
-  
-  
-  
When the lunch bell rang and the students flooded into the cafeteria, no one but Karna and Krishna could apparently tell who Arjuna and Siegfried were. Medb, Duryodhana, Gil, Ozy, Jeanne, Jalter, and even Astolfo couldn’t recognize them. It continued to baffle Siegfried how he’s managing to pull this off so well.

The more interesting part, however, was how the entire cafeteria had been turned a witch’s lair for the upcoming holiday. Karna looked rather proud of himself, probably considering he was the one doing most of the heavy lifting and decorating in his class which had been assigned to give the school a Halloween makeover. No one would argue that it didn’t look amazing. Ryuunosuke looked far too happy to see some of his...artwork up on display. Jeanne and Jalter had absolutely no idea if it was supposed to look like a mangled human or if it was a mangled human. His friend who looked very similar to a certain teacher just pulled him away from the possibly fake organs to have lunch. Seriously, who was that guy?

The other thing that caught people’s attention was the fact Cu was tied up and hanging from the ceiling. Archer, Shirou’s older brother...cousin...well no was completely sure actually, was dressed as a witch and stirring a cauldron. As it turns out, the cauldron was filled with ramen and was that day’s lunch. Artoria was very quickly the first one to get the fifth helping about only a few minutes. 

“GUDAKOGETBACKHEREISWEARTOGOD-”

Merlin somersaulted over the cauldron to continue chasing Gudako after she herself jumped over it to put more distance between them. Mash and Artoria looked away in embarrassment while Lancelot and Gawain were cheering them on. Tristan was somehow playing Yakety Sax on a harp. Bedivere covered his face with his hands as Agravin was sobbing lighting with his head on the table. Galahad just drank his water with a deadpan look as everything played out. 

“Damn it Gil!”

Siegfried and Arjuna soon found Ozymandias, Duryodhana, and Karna tied up and hanging from the ceiling as Gil laughed maniacally beneath them. While Ozymandias and Duryodhana were complaining, Karna seemed content with the situation. Actually, they were pretty sure he was fast asleep.  
-  
-  
-  
Krishna let out a huff, Merlin had ruined the entire plan by not being there to redirect Karna from the waiting room. Not that it would have changed much, Karna saw right through the disguises. Darn his Discernment of the Poor! He’ll have to try a new plan.

“Juna, stop reading that stuff and help me out here.”

“Let me just finish the scene…haa...”

“Keep your perverted fantasy to yourself while I’m in the same room as you!”  
-  
-  
-  
As Roman heated up his dinner, Gudako ran through his kitchen and climbed out the window with Merlin tailing right behind her. His door had been locked. How the fuck did they even get in here?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~Yo D8ONO, Beneath route where Karna is the human and Arjuna is the vampire~~
> 
>  
> 
> This won't be the last time cross-dressing comes up.


	13. Halloween The 1st

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _The teen on the other side of the door sighed. He couldn’t just deny the request, even if he had the ability to leave. He was worried just how different Black, if that was, in fact, the personality’s name, was to Arjuna. Turning around he found supposably Black sitting at the table. Reading one of Jalter’s doujins. Wait...those characters looked a lot like Arjuna and Karna...oh god that was one of her R18 books._
> 
>  
> 
> _Was Black...drooling?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aka: Fun Times In Halloween For One Part Another Part Is Coming Like Tomorrow

“Alrighty! It’s time for CHS’s Annual Halloween Party!”

da Vinci’s voice filled the halls and classrooms from the loudspeakers. She herself was dressed as a witch. Her outfit being barely considered too racy was in itself magical. Fou, an escaped convict charged with the crime of tipping over Merlin’s flower pot and currently in hiding within Gudako’s jacket, was dressed in a little cape with little bat wings. Gaduko was dressed like an old school JRPG white mage while her brother was dressed as its opposite, a black mage. Mash’s costume had been burned by her father, which she was slightly happy about that. It would be far too chilly to wear that. Roman was dressed as a vampire aristocrat, of which da Vinci gave a very harsh review of. Gaduko and her brother told him they thought it was fine.

Medb had come to school dressed as a prison warden, and very keen on trying to find Cu. Arjuna had been pulled along until Krishna came to his recuse. Krishna, technically not a student, only thing resembling a costume was the cow horns headband he wore while Arjuna was dressed up in a far fancier stereotypical vampire attire. His brother helped him put it together so he was quite certain it was the best in the school. 

Siegfried was confused on how Karna’s hair was sticking past the sheets when the only holes were for his eyes. He had thought maybe Karna had spent so much time helping Arjuna with his costume that he hadn’t had time for his own, but according to Karna, this sheet ghost had been his plan since June. Siegfried wasn’t sure if that was ingenious or just lazy.  
-  
-  
-  
“Juna?”

“Juna?

“Juuuuuna?”

“Arjuna, I will kiss Karna on purpose this time if you don’t pay attention to me.”

“Mhm...”

Krishna stared at his best friend in shock. He was so lost in his daydream he hadn’t even heard him. Oh, this was bad. What on earth had him this dissociated with reality- oh no. He knew something. 

“Juna, what’s Karna’s costume?”  
“Aa, it looks like he’s just a ghost, but he’s got a mummy costume underneath it. Kekeke...”

Was...was he drooling? Ah, Krishna knew what was happening. Arjuna’s self-control finally snapped and it’s all about to break out. Which meant Black would be coming out. And that meant Krishna had to get him away from Karna before that happened. He looked back over to Arjuna, he was definitely drooling.  
-  
-  
-  
Siegfried was simply heading towards the storage room to figure out why Arjuna requested them to meet there when he was unceremoniously pushed in with the door closed behind him. He tried to open it only to find it locked. What was happening?”

“Ah, so sorry Siegfried. Can’t risk anything, so can you stay with Arjuna for a little bit? Thanks.~”

Krishna. Of course. 

“Why am I staying with him?”

“Well, so, he has this other personality, and he’s come out. And Karna cannot encounter him. Also, Black is pretty much everything Arjuna’s pushed to the back of his mind to ignore but then perverted..”

Krishna smiled as he added that last part, hopefully, that would throw Siegfried off when Black started talking about Karna. He did not need to know it was basically just where Arjuna put any desires away to maintain self-control. That and things he found ugly about himself, but the previous thing was an easier explanation. 

The teen on the other side of the door sighed. He couldn’t just deny the request, even if he had the ability to leave. He was worried just how different Black, if that was, in fact, the personality’s name, was to Arjuna. Turning around he found supposably Black sitting at the table. Reading one of Jalter’s doujins. Wait...those characters looked a lot like Arjuna and Karna...oh god that was one of her R18 books. 

Was Black...drooling?  
-  
-  
-  
“Ah, Duryo, have you seen Arjuna or Siegfried?”

“Hm? Nope. What’s up?”

“Neither were in their classes and I’m a bit worried.”

“Hey, maybe they’re together and meeting in a secret location.”

“Duryo, I love you, but shut up.”

“Yeah, it’s way too out there.”  
-  
-  
-  
Black quite enjoyed the books his other half kept hidden away. This one was especially enjoyable. Apparently, Jalter decided to try using a plot with two versions of Karna. Well, there wasn’t much in terms of plot, it was almost nothing but porn. Nicely drawn porn, but porn nonetheless.

Oh yeah, Siegfried was here. Maybe he’d enjoy a book as well. Hmm...maybe there’s something in Jalter’s bag...ah! There is! 

“Hey, catch.”

He tossed a book over to Siegfried. It was by Jeanne. It looked innocent enough, and Jeanne wasn’t like her sister so it must be—

Siegfried immediately closed the book as soon as he opened it. That was nothing but porn. Jeanne was just as bad as her sister. What was even worse is the characters resembled him and Karna to the point it was creepy.

But…

No! He was not going to read make believe porn of him and Karna. It was completely inappropriate. But the artwork was very goo- No, he will not fall into that temptation.

“You know you want to.~”

When the hell did Black get behind him?!  
-  
-  
-  
“Hey, Krishna? Have you seen Arjuna and Siegfried?”

“Not for a while now. Did something happen?”  
-  
-  
-  
“Hey, Siegfried. Wanna see what Karna looks under that sheet?~”

“For the fifteenth time, no I do not.”

“You know you do. Just imagine what might happen if you two were alone...and that silly costume just _happened_ to drop and reveal what little is under there?”

Siegfried punted the elephant pillow at Black to shut him up. It hit him square in the face and the force made him fall backward. Siegfried was going to go insane if this continued. It was even creepier with Arjuna’s voice saying it. 

However...no, he was not going to imagine that! But, what if it involves flowers like that one time…

He started to bang his head on the wall. He should not be thinking of such things while in the same room as another person. Especially if that person was his crush’s brother’s other personality. Who would be able to even do that sort of thing?

“Kekekeke!~”

And why is he laughing now?!  
-  
-  
-  
Merlin hummed a little tune as he ate his pumpkin themed cupcake. It had been 16 hours but he could catch that squirrel. Cat. Whatever Gudako’s pet was. He could catch that little troublemaker and sentence him to 25-lifetime sentences for what he’s done. And fail Gudako for harboring a convict. 

“Oh, Merlin. Have you seen Arjuna or Siegfried?”

“Hmm? Not since yesterday. Have you seen Gudako or Fou?

“Sorry, I haven’t.”  
-  
-  
-  
“So how long are you going to keep up this charade?”

“What?”

Black gestured to Siegfried’s entire body, “this charade. The one where you act like your wish is all innocent and that you’re ignorant to anyone else’s advances to Karna.”

“I really have no idea what you’re talking about.”

The other person in Arjuna’s body crackled loudly. He wrapped an arm around Siegfried with an exaggerated sigh. Oh, this guy was definitely a doormat. 

“So you’re saying _NOTHING_ about Arjuna has been suspicious?”

“He wants to spend more time with his brother, I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

 

“...My god, you’re denser than Karna.”  
-  
-  
-  
“Aa...Karna...could you...map check?”

“Oh, of course. Can you tell me if you see Siegfried or Arjuna?”  
-  
-  
-  
“Oh hey, the door’s open.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

Black wordlessly opened the door multiple times to show his point. How long had the door been open? Well, Siegfried wasn’t complaining now. He had almost given into reading that doujin. 

“Well, I’m off to see Karna.~”

Siegfried didn’t even have a chance to stop him. He disappeared down the hall before Siegfried could get to the door. This couldn’t end well. Just what was he planning…

 _Oh, fuck no._  
-  
-  
-  
Karna exited the maze, telling Asterios his map was very detailed and in fact, made the haunted part of the maze redundant as anyone following it could avoid the scares very easily. Asterios’ smile fell and he apologized for some reason unknown to Karna. He suggested making a map that the students could fill out as they went through the maze instead, which resulted in him being completely engulfed in a hug from the 298 cm tall student. Honestly, how was he that big?

“Karna!”

Asterios dropped him, unfortunately, Siegfried had gained too much speed to stop himself before he crashed into Karna. This caused the sheet covering him to lift up, revealing what was underneath. He was covered from neck to feet in bandages. A part of Siegfried was slightly disappointed it covered so much but that part was quickly put to death via burning. 

Looks like Black had been exaggerating. 

 

"Aa, Karna...I found...Siegfried!"

"Thank you Asterios."  
-  
-  
-  
“Krishna.”

“Yes, Juna?”

“Why am I in Karna’s bed...with only pants on?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I literally have no idea how many more chapters there should be before I give out the final endings depending on who it is. 
> 
> Nor do I know the order for those endings. 
> 
> Y'all I only had 75% planned out and that 25% missing is where we are now.


	14. Halloween 2: Yeah There's a Second Part

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aka: I've Now Remembered Why I Shouldn't Have So Much Candy In One Sitting As I'm Eating Candy

“Siegfried. What the heck happened earlier.”

“Just know Black was out and I no longer wish to speak of what happened.”

Arjuna paled. He feared that happened. Why else would he end up back at home in the middle of the day? _Oh god_ , Siegfried knew now. 

“What exactly did he say?”

“From what Krishna told me before locking me in the room, anything you hid away that then became perverted.”

Oh thank every god in existence for Krishna. 

“I apologize for what you dealt with.”

“It’s alright. I would suggest giving Jalter her books back though.”

“Uhh...I don’t know what you’re referring to.”

“Black had her bag.”

“Oh. Right. Yeah, that makes more sense.” Great save Arjuna. Great save.

None of this explained why he had been in his brother’s bed like that though. Krishna didn’t seem to know why either when he called. Thankfully, he got back to school before it got more confusing than that. 

Well no, that was lie. Black left a note for him that just said ‘Page 10’. A book had been on the bedside table. It opened to a scene Arjuna does not want to repeat anywhere and will go to the grave with it. He burned that book and flushed the ashes down the toilet. That one did not need to exist in any form. Especially not in Black’s hands. 

He did get a chance to see other costumes. Elisabeth complained loudly that while she loved the costume her uncle made for her, she wanted to wear the costume she picked out. All Arjuna picked up on was Vlad said it was in no way appropriate for _any_ event. It wouldn’t be the first time Elisabeth had tried something like that, something about idol appeal or whatever. 

Asterios and Euryale had something of a coordinated costume, vaguely devilish. It was a bit hard with the rather large difference in size. Arjuna had also been dragged- more like carried, to where Siegfried was as Asterios said he would go get Karna. Euryale was still on his shoulder when he went into the maze without a map. 

Arjuna had to wonder just how big the maze was. It had been 10 minutes and Asterios was the one who built the maze. It was possible Karna was also moving around but unless Asterios made the wall taller than himself it shouldn’t be hard to find him. 

“Heyo.~”

Merlin was suddenly hanging off both of them. When or how he got here so quickly was yet another mystery about him and neither of them wanted to ask about it. Neither did they want to know why he smelled like a sewer. Actually, make that three sewers. 

“So I’ve got an idea to help you with Karna.”

“No. Get off me.”

“I’d rather not know. Please get off.”

The teacher huffed. Honestly, he tries to help these kids and they reject that help. Ungrateful brats. 

“Well, I’m telling you anyways. So here’s the plan-”

“NO!”

“I beg you to not!”

“So what you have to do is ▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊ and then ▊▊▊▊ with ▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊ and ▊▊▊▊▊▊ in ▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊the ▊▊▊▊▊ him ▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊ you ▊▊▊-”

Siegfried and Arjuna were saved by a dictionary hitting Merlin in the face, knocking him back. Krishna was once again a saviour only this time he had Raikou with him. Who was now berating Merlin for ‘obscene and inappropriate dialogue with a student’ and ‘smelling like three different sewers on a weekday’. The two students still had a look of horror frozen on their faces.

 

“So,” Krishna started, “What exactly did he say? All I heard was bleeps.”  
-  
-  
-  
Asterios came out with Karna, with his ghost costume on, just a few minutes later. Apparently, he had gotten stuck under one of the scares, very much out of the huge student’s line of sight. Merlin was currently face down on the floor with Raikou sitting on his back, holding a wooden practice sword. 

“Ah, you’re both back. What happened?”

“Well, Bla-”

Arjuna slammed a hand over Siegfried’s mouth. Karna did not need to know that Black had been out and about. Not after what happened in middle school. Never again. 

“Aah, don’t worry about it, Karna. Just a little hiccup.” 

Krishna wasn’t lying per se, which meant that unnatural skill of Karna’s wouldn’t take effect. Damn that skill was annoying. It didn’t lessen how much that guy’s eyes bore into everything like he was about to burn it to ashes with just his glare. Seriously, what the fuck was up with his eyes?

“Hum, would...you...check out...maze?”

“Asterios, you’ll have to speak up if you want them to hear you.”

“Uo...uh, can you, check out, maze?”

Euryale sighed, Asterios really only had two voice levels. Soft like a quiet babbling brook and fucking louder than a goddamn space shuttle launch. He didn’t like using that second level but that meant he often had to say things multiple times for anyone to hear.

“Hey, mortals, Asterios is trying to ask something! Pay attention!♪”

Well, that definitely got their attention. Even Merlin, still face down on the floor, lifted his head a little towards the two. Or, maybe it was just Euryale…

“Aa...can, you all...check out...maze?”

Asterios was really proud of the haunted maze, but for some reason, no one really wanted to go in it. He couldn’t quite wrap his head around why. He made sure it would be scary like the teacher asked. He even got his friend from another school, Theseus, to help make the props. Maybe it was the path he used...he did use a design from his father’s associate who made a design for an inescapable labyrinth per his father’s request. Asterios had asked permission to use it, though he couldn’t understand why the man did a spit take when he asked. He had taken Karna’s suggestion for changing the map and moving around some of the props, much to Euryale’s displeasure as she had to move a few stones to cover up part of the moving prop. There were also a few new ones, hopefully, they would work correctly. 

Krishna pulled Arjuna and Siegfried aside, telling them this was the perfect opportunity. While Siegfried was unsure just how true that statement was, Arjuna felt dread pooling in his stomach. There was only one thing in the world that would terrify Karna, and the chances of that showing up and not something that would terrify him or Siegfried instead were _low_. 

“Hm, sure.”

Karna was already heading back in, and Krishna dragged Arjuna and Siegfried along with him. They didn’t have much choice here. Arjuna definitely wasn’t ready for this, the last time he went into a haunted house he managed to accidentally break Bhima’s nose in a screaming panic. He had been 15 at the time.   
-  
-  
-  
This had been a horrible idea. Karna, with that flat face of his, was unaffected by every scare. Arjuna, on the other hand, had jumped into Krishna’s arms in surprise 15 times already. It had been 7 minutes. 

“Really Juna, just because the place is dark doesn’t mean this place is scar-” Krishna’s words were cut off by his own scream as he jumped into Siegfried’s arms. With Arjuna in hand. Siegfried staggered from the sudden weight change, Arjuna had his arms wrapped around his head while Krishna was gripping his arm. Really, normally this wouldn’t happen. 

“What the hell was that guy thinking! Who the fuck gets such realistic corpses!?”

After a few minutes of calm, the two got off Siegfried who was very thankful that he could actually see his feet once more. Krishna took a deep breath as Arjuna leaned on a wall. A large _thwack_ was head as Arjuna was now passed out on the ground. Turns out he was leaning directly on a pop-up jumpscare prop. Krishna and Siegfried shared a look, whether of disbelief or concern was up to interpretation.   
-  
-  
-  
Karna was quite impressed with how quickly Asterios could change up the maze, there were at least twenty new scares and old scares wherein different places to set him up to be surprised. He wasn’t sure what happened with Siegfried, Arjuna, and Krishna though. Halfway through the maze he had lost them. Hopefully, nothing bad had happened. 

He felt something lift up his sheet. Thinking he had gotten caught on a prop, he stopped and looked back. It wasn’t a prop, it was a person. In the dark, it looked a lot like Arjuna-

“God damn it Black! Get back here!”

Ah, that made sense. Arjuna didn’t have that glint in his eyes normally. Nor did he have the habit of hugging Karna around his waist. 

Krishna, with Siegfried being dragged along by his arm, turned the corner to see Black basically hanging off Karna. Shit. There better be a way for them to explain this. Black caught the look and pouted at Krishna’s gesture to get over where he was. After a minute of this, Black reluctantly let go of Karna. There was a strange look in his eyes that made Siegfried rather suspicious of what he was about to do. 

Much to the surprised of the other three- four if that one eternally shocked prop was being counted, was what exactly Black did. He suddenly grabbed Karna’s face and kissed him. Within three seconds Karna had slammed a hand on Black’s neck, knocking him out. He caught him before he fell and looked back to Krishna and Siegfried who each had a different level of shock shown on their face. Thankfully, this event was far better than what happened in middle school.   
-  
-  
-  
When Arjuna came to, they were in the storage room as Karna was dragged away by Gil to help with the costume contest. He hid his burning face in the elephant pillow as Siegfried explained what happened. Thank god he still thought that was a perverted thing that only applied to Black. 

“Well look at the bright side, at least Black kept his hands above the belt this time.”

“Wait what?”  
-  
-  
-  
The winner of the costume contest had been Gudako and her brother, who surprised everyone by going as each other going as old JRPG mage classes. Gilgamesh and Elisabeth both complained loudly at this. Merlin caught sight of Fou and began to chase Gudako as her brother around the commons. Duryodhana turned to Karna who had ditched the ghost sheet costume for the mummy costume underneath. 

“Hey, what’s with your double costume?”

“Ah, remember how the first Halloween that Arjuna and I made our own costumes he was a mummy and I was a vampire?”

“...was that the one where Aruna was dressed as a vulture?”

“No, the one before that. The one where he and dad had a giant bonfire and Indra got dragged along to help them.”

“Didn’t they get the police called on them?”

“Yep. It was a fun night in holding.”  
-  
-  
-  
Roman sighed as he ate his ramen, still in costume at nearly midnight. Merlin was next to him eating a cake and Gudako had her own bowl of ramen. Fou was munching on an apple. Roman still had no idea why the three were here instead of one of their homes. Gudako just mumbled something about getting a break from running. 

“Hey Romani, can I borrow some underwear? I lost mine in the sewer.”

“Get the fuck out of my house Merlin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Google search: How to write romantic comedy after being 14 chapters in and still having no idea what you're doing


	15. Siegfried's Sieg-cess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Oh man are you lucky Duryodhana is such a heavy sleeper and Karna went to sleep listening to heavy metal.”_  
>   
> 
>    
>  _“Wha...?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aka: I Apparently Decided Working On Three Separate Stories Was A Good Idea
> 
> Also, no one can stop me from making the pun titles now

When Arjuna awoke, he found himself unable to move from under his covers. He looks under the covers to see a pair of pale arms around his waist and felt something nuzzle into the back of his head. Looking behind him the best he could, he saw a mess of white hair. Arjuna smiled and turned around in Karna’s arms, snuggling up to the other’s chest. He let out a happy sigh, this is what he had been waiting for—

“JUNA WAKE THE FUCK UP!”

Arjuna’s eyes shoot open as he fell out of bed with his face hitting the floor. He let out a groan as Krishna stood above him with some pans in hand. He sent a glare towards his smirking best friend.

“Oh man are you lucky Duryodhana is such a heavy sleeper and Karna went to sleep listening to heavy metal.”

“Wha...?”

Krishna’s smirk grew bigger at the befuddled look Arjuna gave him. He threw a pair of pants at him and left the room. It took a moment for the realization to sink in. Damn it, not again.  
-  
-  
-  
When Arjuna and Krishna arrived at the usual place, they were surprised to find Siegfried waiting for them. To their added surprise, he even had a folder with a plan ready to go. To Arjuna’s shock, it was very detailed. Who was this guy and what had he done with Siegfried?

“Astolfo said my attempts were getting increasingly pathetic and said he was using his weekly request to make me create a plan to actually get somewhere with Karna.”

That explained it. However, fear built in Arjuna’s stomach. This meant he would actually have to make a counter plan to stop Siegfried’s. Especially since his plan would, in fact, get him somewhere with Karna. 

“Where’d you get this part from?”

“Brynhildr insisted upon it…”

Siegfried would act once school let out, and Arjuna would have no ability to stop it before then. He would have to resort to sabotage. He smirked inwardly, Siegfried really shouldn’t have shown him his plan.  
-  
-  
-  
“Ah, Karna. May I ask something?”

“Hm?”

Arjuna watched from behind a corner. Krishna watched from just behind him, both barely peeking past the corner. From what Krishna told him, Siegfried had already tried this once but his nerves had gotten the best of him. His best friend also stated there would be no way he’d have enough nerves now, especially since Duryodhana was right next to Karna. 

“Are you free to go on a date?”

“Aa, sure.”

DAMN HIM AND HIS NERVES TO TAMISRA!  
-  
-  
-  
Siegfried felt as if someone was watching him as he and Karna walked towards the arcade. It wouldn’t be a stretch if Arjuna was following them, he was concerned with other people taking up his brother’s attention. He also considered that maybe it was simply his nerves acting up. 

He felt proud that said nerves hadn’t acted up like last time, he didn’t have anything to use instead and that would have made things very awkward. More awkward actually. Duryodhana had pulled him away after Karna agreed and gave him the same talk usually reserved for a protective father or older brother. It might have been emphasized by the fact Duryodhana was younger than Karna by at least a year. Siegfried wasn’t sure if he should be scared or pleasantly amused. 

Arjuna was fuming as he followed the two. He had to find some way to sabotage this without being noticed. There was no way he was losing to Siegfried now. Especially not to a date at a gaming arcade! The only thing that would bring would be Karna’s competitive natu-

 _That son of a bitch was bold._  
-  
-  
-  
The moment they entered the arcade, Karna’s eyes immediately lit up in excitement. Siegfried could barely get his wallet out before being pulled towards the air hockey table. The glint in Karna’s eyes as he stood on the other end of the table managed to scare a poor passerby as the two teens started up the game. 

A small crowd had gathered around them, due to the pure insanity of there being a 90-90 score after only ten minutes. Had it been anyone else, the focus and commitment to this game would have been outrageous. But, it was Karna and Siegfried, both who were not known to back down from a challenge. The poor arcade employee who was watching was completely baffled by how they had managed to break the 10 max score limit.

Hidden in the crowd, Arjuna watched on with the single hope his Karna would only take this as good fun and not proof of a possible relationship forming. He also hoped neither would notice him through his disguise. He bit his tongue as a large smile broke out on his brother’s face, Siegfried had gotten ahead by three points now. 

The air hockey table’s scoreboard broke once one side hit 99. The poor employee looked ready to cry as it emptied out its entire ticket box and began to smoke. Karna and Siegfried apologized for what happened before moving onto another game when another employee told them it was fine. It was skeeball now, and the poor employee feared just what would happen.

After three hours of practically breaking all the games scoreboards and emptying said games of tickets, Siegfried and Karna were asked very nicely to leave and not to return for the next three weeks or security would be called on them. Arjuna followed behind them, still in shock. He hadn’t even known it was possible to break the claw machine in seven different ways. His plan to sabotage the date had been held at a standstill due to the competition that continued to shock onlookers. He would have to try harder now.  
-  
-  
-  
The owner of the bakery, Boudica, watched as Karna and his date ate the molten lava cake together despite her thinking they might have each wanted their own from how their stomachs were growling. Arjuna grumpily ate his donut as he watched the display of Siegfried and his brother. On their way here, Arjuna had tried many, many times to try and stop the date short.

He tried getting Siegfried to smack Karna with his hair. While it was a lame reason, if it happened enough Karna would most likely want it to stop, only Arjuna got smacked himself thirteen times. Four of those times were hard enough to leave a mark. What did that guy wash his hair with?

Then, he tried to make a circumstance where Siegfried would grope Karna. That had failed with Siegfried being concerned he was getting groped and Arjuna nearly getting caught by his brother. He silently made the plan to wash his hands in gravel after this.

Next, Arjuna attempted to get Karna soaking wet so he would have to go home early. However, Black seemed to take over for a moment and he was too far into his dreamland to notice Karna and Siegfried had already passed his hiding spot nearly ten minutes before he came to. He was grateful he had been hidden in that bush.

In one strange occurrence, the three of them saw someone with long white hair and the same face as Arjuna, and someone with the same face as Karna but with yellow eyes and red hair. They all avoided eye contact and just went on their way, not wanting to encounter the strange doppelgangers. Arjuna couldn’t even remember what he had planned before seeing those two. 

Arjuna looked up to see Siegfried and his brother had left the shop. He nearly ran after them before realizing that would seem very suspicious. He decided to go with power walking after them. 

 

Boudica smiled, Karna was so lucky to have such a protective little brother.  
-  
-  
-  
The two arrived at Karna’s house unaffected by anything Arjuna had tried to do make the date end on a bad note- not that he hadn’t been trying his best. He was starting to think their horrible luck ranks had mixed to make immense good luck in this situation. He watched as the two stopped at the door, each with a small smile on their face. It made Arjuna sick.

“Ah, Karna, can I...kiss you?”

This was it. Arjuna’s lost. His sabotage plan had failed. His 10-year plan was finally over. Game ove-

Did...did he only kiss his brother’s cheek? He had the perfect opportunity and he didn’t take it? What is this guy’s fucking game?! And damn that blush that showed up on the two of them! 

“Uh, I’m sorry. I wasn’t sure if it would be appropriate for a full kiss this early on…”

“It’s fine, I enjoyed the date a lot.”

 

Arjuna wasn’t sure if this was a blessing in disguise or if it was a sign he needed to step up his game greatly to compete with Siegfried.  
-  
-  
-  
Krishna sighed as Arjuna continued to complain about the date. He hadn’t seemed to realize he could do the same thing yet to counteract it. Maybe he would finally stop once he came to the thought. 

Not like that would likely, it was 2:30 AM and Arjuna showed no sign of stopping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The more I look back at my chapters the more I start to dislike them. Especially 12 and 13.
> 
>  
> 
> ~~I don't even know if my chapters are any good because I am a brutal critic to myself.~~


	16. Moonlight Picnic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _He decided to go with a calmer approach compared to Siegfried. Once Karna’s competitive nature flared up, Arjuna’s would soon follow. That would most definitely not end well for either of them because Arjuna hated to lose, there were no expectations to that. So, a picnic seemed like a good alternative. They could spend time making the food and then plenty of time relaxing while eating it all. Yes, it was the perfect plan._
> 
> _“Ah, Arjuna. Vlad needs me to work Mata’s shift, her daughter fell ill. Is it okay to wait until later for the picnic?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternative Title: I Literally Spent A Fucking Hour Trying To Make Sure I Spelled Mata's Name Correctly While Getting Distracted By Rereading Things
> 
> Aka: I'm Getting This In Like 15 Minutes Before Midnight What Is Sleep

“Karna. I want to go somewhere today.”

“Hm? Ok.”

Arjuna bit the inside of his cheek. He should have known Karna wouldn’t pick up on the fact he was asking him to go with him. His brother may be able to see through lies like clear glass, but picking up on almost anything else was a skill lost to him. Weirdly, that was not the cause of his lifetime ban from three different restaurants. In addition to that, Karna was also banned from a local farm due to an incident that involved three cows going missing. 

“I want to go somewhere with you today.”

“Oh. Ok.”  
-  
-  
-  
Arjuna had only a few hours to come up with a date plan, which resulted in Krishna being passed out on the floor even once noon came about. It was a good thing school was still canceled due to Asterios’ haunted maze. Now that he thought about it, maybe he shouldn’t have kept Krishna up all night for the planning. Well, as they say, live and learn. 

He decided to go with a calmer approach compared to Siegfried. Once Karna’s competitive nature flared up, Arjuna’s would soon follow. That would most definitely not end well for either of them because Arjuna hated to lose, there were no expectations to that. So, a picnic seemed like a good alternative. They could spend time making the food and then plenty of time relaxing while eating it all. Yes, it was the perfect plan.

“Ah, Arjuna. Vlad needs me to work Mata’s shift, her daughter fell ill. Is it okay to wait until later for the picnic?”

“...Yeah, sure. We can do it another day…”

Karna left soon after. Mata’s shift was mainly cleaning and restocking, but it would still take a few hours until Camilla could take over. Vlad was looking after his niece so he couldn’t cover for Mata himself. Karna would be there until around 9 or 10.

Arjuna returned to his room with his head hung low. Krishna, from his spot on the floor, watched as Arjuna curled up under the blankets in defeat. He sighed deeply, their plan had gone to waste it seemed.  
-  
-  
-  
“Hey, Arjuna, wake up.”

The teen found himself being shaken awake violently. He groaned and sat up, the blanket falling from his head to his lap. He groggily glared at whoever woke him before realizing it was his brother.

“Do you still want to go for a picnic?”

Still dazed, Arjuna nodded hesitantly. Karna dragged him up from the bed and out the house in such a fluid motion that Arjuna almost thought they had walked through the walls. As his mind started to fully awake, he realized Karna had his fingers intertwined with his own. He was very grateful it was so dark that his blush would be unnoticeable. 

Karna brought him to a lakeside, the waning crescent of the moon reflecting in the calm water with millions of stars shining softly along with it. He spread out a blanket and started to unpack the basket. Arjuna had no idea how the basket could fit all that food in there- is that date flavored halwa? Karna caught his stare at the sweet and lifted up one to him between his fingers. His hesitation in deciding between taking it with his hand and eating it straight from Karna’s resulted in his brother shoving it in his mouth. Arjuna nearly choked from the sudden air in his lungs but was able to swallow the very sweet tasting dessert without much problem.

“Is it good?”

Arjuna smiled and nodded. He picked up one himself and held it up to Karna who took it and plopped it in his mouth. Arjuna’s pout didn’t last for long as Karna passed him a sandwich. It was a really good sandwich. 

“Hey, close your eyes and open your mouth.”

A bit confused, and ignoring the snickers that came from Black in the back of his head, Arjuna did what he was told. He tasted sweet yet sour chocolate. Biting down slowly, and finding no sign of fingers, he soon tasted strawberry under the chocolate coating. Oh, fuck that tasted delicious. Arjuna must have made a pleased sound at the taste as he felt another touch his lips. He ate another three before opening his eyes to see his brother eating his own share of the strawberries. He reached for another sandwich.

Karna suddenly had a smirk on his face. Arjuna was halfway through his sandwich when he saw a glint in Karna’s eyes. What on earth was he planning-

 

“Wait why are you striping!?”  
-  
-  
-  
Apparently Karna’s brilliant 2 AM plan was to jump into the lake with only his pants on. Arjuna ripped his shoes and socks off and ran in after him after discarding his jacket to keep his phone safe. He nearly jumped three feet in the air from how cold the water was. Karna let out a laugh and went out further in the lake. After a minute of getting used to the temperature, Arjuna made his way to Karna with the water reaching his waist. He reached for his brother’s wrist only to have cold water splashed in his face. 

“Really?”

Arjuna returned the attack with his own, surprising Karna by getting him from the side. That glint from before returned. He took a step back to avoid another splash-

“AH SHI-”

Karna chuckled as Arjuna flailed around as he fell backward into the lake. He offered a hand to his now soaked brother, only to be pulled down into the water himself. Arjuna smirked before getting splashed in the face once more. _Oh, it was fucking on._  
-  
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An hour and 17 rounds of water fights later, Arjuna and Karna were soaked head to toe. More so Arjuna as he had not forgone his shirt beforehand. His brother slung an arm around his shoulders with a large smile on his face as they left the lake. A similar smile formed on Arjuna’s face, it had been years since they last did something like this. 

“I won that.”

His brother raised an eyebrow at that. He playfully shoved Arjuna away to which the other retaliated. This continued until they reached the picnic blanket, in which Arjuna lost his balance on the slick grass and brought his brother down to the ground with him. Karna pinched his nose in revenge, to which the younger teen responded to by sticking out his tongue. 

 

They really did become childish when competitions came up didn’t they?  
-  
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Karna yawned as he woke up, popping his back in the possess. Looking around he saw he had fallen asleep with the food still out. Thankfully, enough had yet to be open so there was plenty still good for breakfast. Whatever had been left must have been stolen from some birds or another wild animal. He grabbed one of the sealed sandwiches and started to eat, it had to be around 6 or 7 at this point. Ah, he had left his phone in his other pants.

He heard a snore and found Arjuna fast asleep next to him. Karna reached out and ruffled his hair, making an odd sleepy sound emit from his brother as he slept. His jacket had been thrown over him as a makeshift blanket. In his arms was an empty food container.   
-  
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Jalter smirked as she looked through the developed photos she had taken of a little midnight outing. This was fantastic material for her next book. She was almost certain her mysterious reader simply known as ‘B’ would enjoy it. 

“Morning sis!”

She let out a yell and dropped her photos as her twin greeted her. Jeanne looked at the fallen pictures on the ground and then back at her sister. Jalter was trying to gather up the pictures as they slipped out of her grasp and more fell out of her pockets. 

Jeanne was about to berate her sister for stalking when she accidentally knocked open a box and its contents spilled out onto the floor. It was photos of a certain afternoon outing from two days ago. Jalter and her shared a look of both embarrassment and confusion.

 

“So, we can agree to not mention this ever again right?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it obvious that I'm itching to write some angst again?
> 
>  
> 
> ~~I wonder if I should give those alters their own chapter or just little one off things for the next few chapters...~~
> 
>  
> 
> ~~_I also feel like this might be lackluster compared to the previous chapter_ ~~


	17. How To Bribe A Child

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aka: This Is Late I Know I'm Sorry

Krishna had a smile on his face when Arjuna returned to his room. Had it been anyone else, that smile would have seemed evil. Then again Arjuna had a similar smile so maybe it was evil. 

“Did you kiss him?”

“...Damn it.”

“You had one job Arjuna. One job.”

“I was a little distracted!”

“By what?”

“Uhh…”

Arjuna blushed and tried to avoid eye contact. Krishna sighed loudly. The doormat was getting further than him at this point. Heck, **Black** was further than both of them. He was at the second base at this point. Arjuna hadn't reached first yet. That was embarrassing. 

He pulled the chair out from under the desk. Krishna opened the laptop and began to work. They would need a serious plan to catch up now.

“Juna. We’re using Black.”

“Wha-!”

 

Duryodhana wasn’t sure what he was expecting when Arjuna suddenly pulled Karna out of the house. At least, he thought it was Arjuna. That smile on Krishna’s face spoke another story. A story Duryodhana had no interest in knowing. Not when Karna's pancakes existed.  
-  
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Karna was actually quite tired currently. The past week or so had been extremely tiring. Especially considering the past two days. He was starting to think he was burning out in terms of any form of emotional presentation. That didn’t deter Black in the slightest though. In fact, it seemed to encourage him in a way. Weird.

Now, the plan was easy for Black to follow. Switch to Arjuna once he was able to land a kiss on Karna to push him forward. Maybe even get him ahead of Siegfried and get to the second base. But getting to first base was the priority now. 

Around halfway to the desired location, Black decided to pick up Karna and carry him. This was due to the fact he thought the other was dragging his feet too much. That, and it let him discreetly place a hand close to his butt- why was he being carried now?

In a fluid motion, Karna had flipped the roles and was now carrying Black. The younger teen had a moment of complete bewilderment. How and when did Karna learn how to do that? Could he learn it? Why are theme park cameras so much better than bank cameras at taking pictures? Does Karna know where he was taking him?

As it turns out, Karna did not. He just went to the park. Though, Black decided that the bakery and bar had chosen possibly the best locations. Seriously, it was like everything was here.  
-  
-  
-  
"Hey, want so M&Ms?"

"I suppose."

 

"...Why on earth would you mix M&Ms with Skittles?"

"Because fuck you, that's why." 

 

Medusa, a part-time worker at the bookstore, watched as a man with long white hair threw another man with a golden earing out the window. She had the feeling both were familiar to her. She couldn't quite place how though. Regardless, she sighed and called the window repairman for the third time that week.  
-  
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Black begrudging ate his ice cream from its paper bowl. He couldn't believe Karna fell asleep on what was supposed to be his outing. Well, at least Karna was using his lap as a pillow. He let out a sigh. He wished the other teen was awake. A dark smile formed on his face. Oh, the things that played out in his mind.

"Why are you smiling like that?"

"GAH WHAT THE FUCK?"

Black's ice cream flew out of his hands and hit the ground. A girl with blond hair and blue eyes was sitting next to them with a teddy bear. She had placed herself in a way that captured Karna's legs under her own. 

"Who are you?"

"I am Abigail Williams. Karna calls me Abby."

"And why is that?"

"He's my babysitter."

Something clicked in Black's head. He had been vaguely aware that Karna sometimes babysat. But he wasn't aware of who those kids were. This Abigail girl looked a little too old to be needing a babysitter though. 

She didn't look like she was going to move. In fact, she was dead set on not moving. Just what was this girl's game? Abigail and Black began to stare- no, glare, at one another. Each one trying to figure the other out. 

Interrupting their staring contest was the waking body of Karna. He got up from his lap pillow, straightening his legs out. This allowed Abigail to slide over and plop herself on his lap. While Karna was still dazed and not fully aware of the third person, she stuck her tongue out at Black. Black, childishly, returned the gesture. 

"Hm? Oh, Abby? How did you get here?"

"Good day, Karna! I was walking around when I spotted you with..."

Abigail trailed off, unsure who the other teen was. She had a strong feeling this wasn't the brother he talked about, no, he always said he was very kind. This person did not appear pleasant at all. Karna picked up on her confusion.

"This is Black. He's like Arjuna. Only not."

That was a horrible way of explaining it. 

"Huh, okay."

What the fuck, that worked? What kind of logic did someone need to have that understandable at a basic level? Moon logic? No, that was stupid. Perhaps Karna had a connection with her akin to a mother and a baby? No, that couldn't be it.

A loud growl filled the air. Black looked around, wondering just what the hell made that noise. Was it a bear? A dragon? Some eldritch abomination? 

"I'm sorry--! I'm a little hungry..."

 _ **THAT WAS THE KID!? WHAT THE FUCK? WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?**_

While Black had a look of horror on his face, Karna's was flat as ever. He was used to this when he looked after Abby. Picking her up and getting up from the bench in one fluid motion, he started towards Boudica's bakery.

"Ah, Karna? Can we go somewhere else? I already had a lot of sweets."

"Aa, sure."

 

Looking back over Karna's shoulder, Abigail smirked at Black. It took a moment for the what happened to register for him. Was he...

Was he just cucked by a 12-year-old?  
-  
-  
-  
"Get back here you harbinger of evil!"

"Bite me 'Zerker!"

"I just might!"

 

Circe raised an eyebrow at the commotion just outside the coffee shop. She couldn't believe those two hooligans were making such a racket. Such obnoxious pigs. Hm, Circe didn’t want to move from her warm comfy sport, but she also didn’t want to have to look at the two outside as she drank her coffee. Ah! She sat her nephew right in front of her, blocking her view of practically anything behind him. He was a giant after all.

“Now what happened with the maze?”

“Everyone liked it alot...thank you...for helping with the plan...auntie.”

“What have I told you about calling me that so sincerely!”  
-  
-  
-  
Abigail smiled as she ate her burger. Karna sipped at his soda as the girl in his lap ate her fifth burger. She promised she wouldn’t just sit around all day if he got her six burgers to sate her hunger. Black was glaring at her the whole time. He couldn’t believe this kid was more important than him right now. 

The girl sent a wicked little smirk towards Black. He clenched the soda in his hand as he was being challenged by the 12-year-old. Oh, he was not going to lose to her. He was not about to squander all the work he had accomplished in the past 10 years to someone like Abigail. He also wished her weird teddy bear would stop staring at him. 

"Karna, Karna! Can we go back to the park?"

"Ah, sure."

She finished her last burger as Black continued to glare at her. Karna must have noticed it by now. You could fry eggs on the ground with his glare alone. 

To add insult to injury, she got Karna to allow her to ride atop his shoulders. Lucky brat. He couldn't believe it, he was getting beaten by a child. It was madness!  
-  
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"You vile, offensive, corrupted man!"

"You're acting like a mongoose on the hot ground!"

"AAAUGH!"

"AAAAUGH! See! I scream just as loud!"

 

Jinako looked up from her game to see what the commotion was about. She had been knee deep in a big gaming competition for the past week or two. Right now she was in line for the next game in the series, she hadn't wanted to bother Karna since he dropped over $500 bucks for her previous game to make sure she got everything in the game when it came out. Even stuff that hadn't come out yet. Jinako still wasn't sure how he did that. Now that she thought about it, that man with red hair and a gold earring reminded her of him.  
-  
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After sourly watching Karna run around the park with Abigail atop his shoulders calling out directions, Black was certain she was a witch in someway. He swore the stuffed toy she left next to him was cursed. He wasn't even sure it was a stuffed bear anymore. It had one swirly eye that was staring at him. Black could only guess it had a camera in it, why else would the eye be so big it took up the entire face? 

"Faster Karna! Ignor and Ignah are gaining on us!"

What was she even saying? Those weren't any names he heard of before. Were they mythical creatures or something? What is with that kid?

"It's Tufurtukunga! Quick! We have to outrun him!"

How did she even know a word that long? What or who was a Tufurtukunga? What was the deal with airline food? Why was he putting so much thought into this? 

Black put his face in his hands. He had absolutely no idea what was going on at this point. This definitely wasn't in the plan.  
-  
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"Well, this is a compromising position."

"Shut up, right now."

"I think we're closer than ever now."

"I will bite you."

"Try me."

 

"Move your hand."

"Uh, that's not me."  
-  
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Karna waved goodbye to Abigail as she ran off. She promised to meet her father at the library in a few minutes. He had asked if she wanted him to stay with her until he arrived but she said the library was nearby, so it wasn't a big deal. She gave him a big hug before she left, using the final moments to give Black one last sharp-toothed smile. He stuck his tongue out in response.

Most of his allotted time was taken by that witch, so he had to act quickly before he changed back. He bit his thumb, what could he do in such a small amount of time that made sure Arjuna would get to first base? An idea flashed in his head. It was all or nothing.

The white-haired teen felt Black turn him to face him and cover his eyes. Using the small window of surprise on his face, Black shoved his tongue into Karna's mouth. Then, he let Arjuna take over. 

When Arjuna came to, he wasn't sure why is tongue felt odd. Within a few seconds, he realized how close he was to Karna. Then he realized why his tongue seemed to be both in his mouth and not. He shot back, his face completely red as he covered his face. That was not what he wanted to happen at all. It was supposed to be far more romantic than this! Damn that other half of him!

"Ah, Arjuna, are you okay?"

 _How is he so calm right now!?_  
-  
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Merlin smirked as he watched it all play out from his binoculars. That Abigail girl really pulled her weight. He would have to let Krishna know his plan worked perfectly. 

"Ahem."

The teacher looked over to see the 12-year-old waiting expectingly. Oh right, her pay. He gave her a slice of the cake in front of him. She frowned deeply.

"No. You made me trick my favorite babysitter. Give me a big piece."

He looked at the cake, he only made a small slice to pay her with and he didn't have a knife. With a depressed sigh, he gave her the rest of the cake and kept the single slice to himself. Abigail smirked and went over to her father with her pay.

_Brat._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Evidence I shouldn't try to write out a grail war, a mafia au, angst, this story, and farm to finish the event in FGO while accidentally getting Cleo when trying to get the 4 Star event CE. (Not even joking. It's Raikou all over again.)
> 
>  
> 
> I really want to post the mafia au but I want to finish this first....


	18. Totally Funny Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Where are your parents?”_
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> _“I’m looking for Karna.”_
> 
>  
> 
> _“Do you not have school?”_
> 
>  
> 
> _“I’m homeschooled.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aka: I Got Abigail With My First Summon Ticket For The 1500 DL Campaign And Since I Think The Last Chapter Was A Catalyst Here's More Abigail And A Flashback

When Scathach began her roll call, a blonde haired child was not apart of her class the last time she checked. This child definitely didn’t sit on her desk either. Who was this child?

“Where are your parents?”

“I’m looking for Karna.”

“Do you not have school?”

“I’m homeschooled.”

Cu managed to sneak in while the teacher was distracted. He slid into his chair, hoping she wouldn’t notice as she called the office. The girl was standing on the desk now, asking repeatedly for Karna. Siegfried had a feeling he had seen her before. But where?

After a tiring ten minutes of hearing Scathach interrogate the girl on who she was and why she was here, Karna showed up at the door wondering why he was being called here. All Hans said to him was that he was needed in Scathach’s room. The girl leaped off the desk and was caught by a flat-faced Karna. This wasn’t unusual for her to do, often when he showed up she would jump from where ever she was once she saw him. Her sense of distance was not the best. 

That was the explanation given when anyone asked Karna why a 12-year-old was riding atop his shoulders as he went through class. Gilgamesh and Ozymandias were annoyed that the girl was taller than them this way. Duryodhana added salt into the wound by lift Karna above his head. Thankfully they were outside, or else Abigail might have lost her head to the ceiling. 

“Karna, Karna! I wanna hear a story!”

“Hm? Ok.”

“Oh, tell her about how you and Arjuna used to hate each other.”

Gilgamesh spat out his drink onto Ozymandias, who was in shock from Duryodhana’s statement. That didn’t sound right at all. Karna was the guy who would refuse an outing because his brother wanted a specific dinner that night. They could get Arjuna hating him, but Karna? 

 

The two also had to question why Abigail looked so happy at that suggestion. Unbeknownst to the group, Arjuna listened in from just out of view. He clenched his fist, he hated that time in his life...  
~  
~  
~  
_The first time Arjuna saw Karna, they hadn’t known they were brothers. Karna was two years older than him and in kindergarten while he was still in pre-school. Yudhishthira said he had a scary looking kid in his class, and Karna fit that description perfectly. He had dead blue eyes and white hair despite being a kid. Arjuna didn’t like him one bit. When he saw him for the first time, he tried to kick his shins. It didn’t do much, he was only 4._

_Not only was he weird, but he hung out with Duryodhana and Ashwatthama. His older brothers weren’t fans of them and he wasn’t either. Duryodhana was their cousin and a bully, especially to Bhima. The two fought a lot- as much as kindergarteners could that was. One time he even poisoned his brother, that was when Arjuna decided Duryodhana was a horrible person and had nothing to redeem himself with. He didn’t like his cousins and they didn’t like him. Ashwatthama didn’t like Arjuna either, not when his father seemed to favor him over any other student._

_Karna though, Karna was a different story. None of them could figure him out. He didn’t act like a kid at all. He had a weird monotone voice and he insulted people a lot. Arjuna, even at the age of 4, had no idea why he always seemed surprised when people yelled at him for insulting them. Yudhishthira once had to partner with him for a class project and was almost in tears at lunch. The blue-eyed boy didn’t even seem to know what he had done when the teacher berated him for making another student cry. Yudhishthira said Karna stopped sitting next to him after that._

_Duryodhana was an even bigger bully that week. Arjuna hated Karna even more for that. He was sure he had been the reason for it. He seemed clueless to what Duryodhana was doing, but Bhima said he was just acting. Their elder brother once said that since that week his lunchbox seemed emptier. It was only once though, he never mentioned it again._

_It was after New Years that they found out Karna was their older brother. Kunti showed up to help with a class party and saw Surya, Karna’s father. They were surprised to see each other, apparently, they knew each other when they were younger. To Arjuna that seemed like a long time ago. At the party, they didn’t understand why Kunti kept looking over at Karna. Within a week though, they found out. Karna would be coming over for dinner three times a week now. Arjuna didn’t like it, now he had to be around Karna on a regular basis. It didn’t help that he was older than Yudhisthira, which meant they had to listen to him._

_The worst part is he still hung out with Duryodhana and Ashwatthama. He still seemed blind to the bullying they dealt with. It made Arjuna hate him even more. But, Karna didn’t hate him. Even when the four-year-old hit him in the face in the morning when he was upset or kicked him at the dinner table. At least, he didn’t, until one fateful day._

_It had been after school one day. Karna was waiting with them for their mother to pick them up. He was showing Duryodhana a handheld he got. It wasn’t the newest one in the slightest, but he didn’t seem to care. It was the first time Arjuna had seen him smile, and he hated it. Looking back, it was a stupid and petty thing to do. Karna had saved up a lot to get the gaming system, he didn’t even have a game for it. He left it on the bench next to him so he could listen to his friend without getting distracted. Arjuna took the handheld and went just far enough so they wouldn’t immediately notice what he was doing. He grabbed a rock and slammed it down repeatedly on the system, getting a sort of horrid glee from the act. When he looked back, his brothers were looking on in shock. Expect for Karna. It was the first time he ever saw him glare, and it terrified him. That was the first time Karna didn’t come home with them on a dinner day. He didn’t speak to Arjuna for the rest of the school year. He didn’t come to dinner for another two weeks either. In the car, Arjuna cried. His wrist really hurt and the bumps from the road didn’t help._

_The next incident Arjuna would regret doing immediately after. He was in kindergarten and Karna was in 1st grade. They just both happened to be in the stairwell when the idea came to him. He didn’t know where the thought came from nor why he listened to it. Arjuna didn't recall much from then, all he knew was one moment Karna was in front of him going down the stairs and the next minute the nurse was being called. There was blood on the stairs and the other students didn’t know what to do. He would find out later it was just a bloody nose and a sprained arm, but for a few hours, Arjuna thought he had killed him._

_The same year, Arjuna told himself he hated Karna. He hated his stupid dead eyes and the fact he stopped hating him. He should hate him. Arjuna wasn’t nice to him and he was best friends with Duryodhana so he should hate him and his brothers. He kicked him, he hit him, he yelled at him, pulled at that earring he always had on, but Karna just wouldn’t hate him anymore. He didn’t know why. And Arjuna told himself that he hated that._

_Nakula and Sahadeva started kindergarten when Arjuna entered 1st grade. That was the year Arjuna’s feeling did a turnaround. He stopped telling himself he hated Karna that year. All because of one moment. A group of students dared Arjuna during recess to climb up the tree just behind the playground. The teachers didn’t look over there because it was right next to a house, and the students knew better than to get close to the dog in the yard. Of course, Arjuna didn’t want to do it until they called him a chicken. He wasn’t a chicken. And no matter how smart he was at his age, he hated having his pride poked at. So, he climbed up the tree and sat on its biggest branch with a smug look on his face. Until the dog came out into the yard and started barking loudly. It didn’t see him, but it saw the other students who ran away at the loud and rapid barks. Arjuna was completely still, he wouldn’t risk the dog seeing him._

_He must have been there for a while because it was the 2nd graders' recess when he was rescued. Not by a teacher no, by Karna. At first, Arjuna told himself he wasn’t going to accept any help from him. But, he also didn’t want to stay stuck any longer. To his surprise, Karna didn’t seem to alert the dog at all. He looked over to see the dog just laying in its spot next to the tree. It looked very passive at the moment. Either way, Arjuna didn’t want to risk being near that thing any longer. But...how was he supposed to get down? He couldn’t go the way he came, it was too close to the dog. He could jump but it was a long way down to the 6-year-old and he didn’t want to get hurt._

_“I’ll catch you.”_

_What!? Was he crazy? He was only a little bigger than Arjuna and there was no way he could catch him at this distance._

_Karna was waiting with his arms outstretched. He’s actually serious about this. Arjuna looked between the ground and the other child. Did he really want to risk it? He didn’t want to get in trouble for skipping class…_

_Arjuna took a deep breath and jumped down from the branch. To his surprise, Karna really did catch him. He didn’t drop him right after like Bhima did when they were playing. It felt strange. Well, actually, it felt warm. He felt a little sad when he was put down._

_A teacher called out to them, demanding to know why they were out here and why Arjuna wasn’t in class. Before he could try to explain himself, Karna stepped between him and the teacher._

_“It was my fault.”_

_It was that day while being lead back to his class, that Arjuna decided he didn’t hate his brother._

_Then, on that fateful birthday, Krishna told him he had overheard that Karna might be moving away. He couldn’t let that happen. He still had to fix his mistakes. And so, he did what he saw worked on his half-sister’s tv shows._

_“Because I’m going to marry him!”_  
~  
~  
~  
“Uh, Arjuna?”

“Hm, what?”

Siegfried looked at the other teen who was crouched in the bush. How everyone had missed him was a surprise. Granted there weren’t many people who ate lunch outside.

“You’re brother is looking for you. School ended an hour ago.”

 

“Oh.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *slam dunks some angst into a comedy* Yes I see no negative outcome whatsoever


	19. When You Give An Abigail A Treat...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“So, explain to me what’s happening and why I have an increasing urge to kill whoever keeps knocking Arjuna and me out.”_
> 
>  
> 
> _“Well to start, Merlin. To reiterate, Merlin.”_
> 
>  
> 
> _“Ah okay, that guy.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aka: This Chapter Is More Deserving Of The 'More Abigail Now' Alternative Title.

“Sit down and hold onto your butts, I’ve got the perfect plan.”

Merlin was not joking. While it was illegal- very illegal, he shouldn’t be giving this stuff to students in any circumstance, it would work. Krishna poked the box with a stick, unsure if any of them should get close to the item. 

The teacher had gotten an aphrodisiac. They wanted to know how he got it, but they also didn’t want to. Just for the plausible deniability. Despite the very vocal protests of Siegfried and Arjuna, they had drugged food shoved into their hands and were thrown from the room. Siegfried was still in such a shock that he didn’t notice Arjuna had been handed food as well. Krishna was starting to regret bringing Merlin into this. 

 

But...the teacher did get him good butter.  
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This was a horrible idea. This was something Black would do. Arjuna was not risking anything with this. He made sure to get rid of it the moment he was released from the hold the shock had him in. Which had been around lunch. Arjuna had kept the box tied up in his bag before dumping it into a trashcan. Hopefully, no one would dig through the trash and find it. 

“Arjuna.”

“Hm?”

Abigail handed him a cookie. Suspicious of the girl, considering the only time he ever met her she was listed very quickly as a threat to his plan, he stared at the cookie. He didn’t trust the sweet, but it did look really good. No, he was not going to fall for this. Well...he could take a little bite. There wasn’t any way she could get her hands on something so potent as the effect such a small piece. Hm, it tasted a little too sweet-

The 12-year-old smiled at the now knocked out teenager. She dragged his body into the closet like Merlin had told her to. Now she just had to get this Siegfried fellow to check up on him when his other self surfaced. Not that Abigail knew what that meant exactly, she was only twelve. He was probably that weirdo Karna was with the other day. She didn’t like him, he was weird. 

 

Now, to get her pay for drugging a teenager to help with a plan of getting him with his brother. She found no irony in that. After all, she was only twelve and couldn’t be a weirdo like Black.  
-  
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For the second time that week, Siegfried found himself locked in a room with Black. Seriously, why was he always stuck in these situations? Luckily, Black didn’t have any of those doujins on him. Siegfried wasn’t sure if he could last another session like last time. 

“So, explain to me what’s happening and why I have an increasing urge to kill whoever keeps knocking Arjuna and me out.”

“Well to start, Merlin. To reiterate, Merlin.”

“Ah okay, that guy.”

Black pulled out a book from Arjuna’s bag. At first, Siegfried couldn’t tell what it was until he noticed Jalter’s signature. How and why was one of her books in his bag? Did Black stow it away beforehand? Was it one of her tamer books? No, that was highly unlikely with how much Jalter pumped out every week. Hopefully, it wasn’t one with characters that resembled- nope they looked like Karna and Arjuna. Of course.

Siegfried sighed, he didn’t want to deal with that again. It took a few days to get those images out of his head. It didn’t help that he had to see Jeanne after that. He still couldn’t quite look her in the eye. He dug through his bag, trying to find his lunch-

“Oh. Shit.”

“What?”

“I don’t have my lunch.”

“And I should care for what reason?”

“The drugged food was with it."

 

" _Oh shit._ "

 

Abigail hummed a little tune as she went to the lunch room. That Siegfried guy was really nice to let her have his lunch while he wasn’t looking. She’d have to thank him later. She opened the bag and saw a gift-wrapped box. Ah! She could give this to Karna to thank him for the burgers!  
-  
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Merlin watched Karna’s lunch table from a distance. He had no clue where Siegfried and Arjuna disappeared to, hopefully, they would show up and make the plan work. He noticed Abigail handing Karna a box that looked very similar to a box Siegfried received. But that had to be a coincidence. Maybe she just used the same wrapping paper- no that was how he tied his bows. Shit. 

The teacher held a breath, maybe Karna would eat them now- did he just give one to Abigail? Fuck. Fucking shit. This was very bad. That aphrodisiac was most definitely not meant for children. Well, any aphrodisiac was not meant for children. But especially not that one!

_Damn it! I’m not going back to jail!_

“You’ve been to jail?”

Merlin looked back to see Krishna staring at him in shock. 

“Can you read minds or something? 

“You can't?”

Merlin just nodded and turned back to watch the table. Abigail was eating the sweet but not suffering any effects. Neither was Karna. What the heck? Merlin was sure he had drugged every one of those sweets. Had he messed up? He asked Krishna to pull the bottle from his bag and to read its dosage level.

“I think you have the wrong thing.”

“Huh?”

“This says its an anaphrodisiac.”

 

“...H-huh?”  
-  
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“Hey Siegy, you know what would be fun?”

“Not being called ‘Siegy’.”

“Killjoy. No, it would be fun if Karna ▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊-”

Black held his stomach in pain from the punch. He was cry laughing at Siegfried’s completely embarrassed face. Siegfried was 191% done with Black’s comments, the past two hours had been incredibly stressful. Especially since Black kept pulling out more of Jalter’s manga out of nowhere. At one point it might have been him and Karna on the cover but Siegfried was not going to risk seeing Jeanne’s book again. He definitely wouldn’t be able to look her in the eye if he read it. Or Karna for that matter. It was just as bad as last time, expect Black wasn’t trying to convince him to check what was under Karna’s costume.

To distract himself, Siegfried had to wonder why Abigail had locked them in here- wait. She wasn’t a student here. Which means she didn’t know the doors of every storage closest expect the one in the library auto-locked. The doors were light either, so she must have used something to keep the door open until she got them both in here. But what was her train of thought in this plan?

The door was suddenly slammed open. Black and Siegfried looked to find Duryodhana with Gilgamesh and Ozymandias standing in the doorway.

“And that’s how to break open an auto lock door. Oh hey, Siegfried. Wait, Siegfried? Arjuna? Was my wild guess actually right?”

“Try again ya’ mother-lovin' bully.”

“Oh.Great. Black’s back.”  
-  
-  
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Karna looked over to where Abigail was pointing. Siegfried was carrying a passed out Arjuna over his shoulder and talking with Duryodhana. As he walked over to figure out what happened, Abigail paled. Karna wasn’t supposed to know what happened, which means she would get in trouble if he did. She didn’t want to get in trouble with her babysitter.

After taking his brother from Siegfried who had a wary look in his eyes, Arjuna stirred and buried his head in Karna’s shoulder. He mumbled something about having a really bad headache and not wanting to deal with Black anymore. Karna rubbed his back sympathetically.

Abigail pulled at Karna’s arm, tearing up.

“I’m sorry…”

“Hm? For what?”

“I...I stole Siegfried’s gift for you. I’m sorry.”

_She WHAT?_

“Ah, then apologize to him.”

Abigail turned to Siegfried as tears started to fall. It made him feel bad, she was just a kid who didn’t know what was in those sweets. Hopefully, she hadn't eaten any. And thankfully, Karna didn’t seem affected in the slightest. That meant he hadn’t eaten any yet.

“I’m sorry...I just wanted to thank Karna for something…”

“It’s fine, please don’t cry.”

 

“Oh, Siegfried, those little cakes were very good. We all liked them. Where did you get them?”

The tall teen had a moment of being brain dead. Karna...ate the cakes. Oh dear god-

“WHY DO PEOPLE KEEP FAINTING AROUND HERE?” Duryodhana lamented loudly as he caught Siegfried before he fell face forward onto the ground.  
-  
-  
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Merlin looked at his bottles. He had gotten the anaphrodisiac and the aphrodisiac mixed up when he was adding them to the cakes. Darn, his plan had failed. Well, live and learn. At least now he couldn’t be charged with-

“Oh my god, GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!” Roman yelled as he slammed open the door to his laundry room. Merlin had been staying there for the past three days despite Roman kicking him out multiple times. Literally kicking him out out the door.

“Oh come on! Just a little bit longer?”

“I will call the police!”

“You drive a hard bargain, I must decline though.”

The school nurse held up a phone, typing in the police's number. Merlin grabbed his stuff and ran out past Roman. He wasn’t about to go to jail or holding. Not after last time.  
-  
-  
-  
“Siegfried. We need a plan that isn’t illegal and will work.”

“...I do have one idea.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've told myself the reason this chapter and the last aren't big on comedy is that chapter 20 will have a lot to try and justify it. Is it working?
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> ~~jp why give me so many nice four stars and make me choose only one~~


	20. Countdown To The Final Showdown! : Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Arjuna, I have a question.”_
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> _Oh god, he’s seen the pictures. I knew we shouldn’t have done the planning in my room. “Hm, yes?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aka: Thank D8ONO For This Not Being A Monsterous 10K Words.

The plan was simple. It was so simple that even any outside disturbance would not ruin it. The only way it could fail was their own nerves. Arjuna wasn’t sure if Siegfried’s newfound ability to hold back his nerves would be ideal or disastrous in this situation. Now, the other problem with how simple the plan was the fact Arjuna would have to try and sabotage it for his own benefit. A plan that was made to bend and twist with what happened made that rather difficult. It made him seriously question how Siegfried was able to come up with this plan but not confess to Karna that first time. Had Merlin and Krishna affected him this much?

“Arjuna, I have a question.”

 _Oh god, he’s seen the pictures. I knew we shouldn’t have done the planning in my room._ “Hm, yes?”

“Does it bother you that I’m interested in your brother like this?”

 _Yes, more than you can imagine._ “...I suppose. But that should be understandable.”

“Ah, yeah. I’m sorry. I...I can back off if it bothers you too much.”

 _This is your chance! Tell him to back off! It’s the perfect opportunity-_ “No. It’s fine. Just, don’t mess it up.” 

 

_WHAT ARE YOU DOING! THAT WAS YOUR CHANCE!_

_I’M SORRY! I PANICKED!_

_THAT WAS PANICKING??_

 

Siegfried smiled at the teen, completely unaware of the screaming match between Arjuna and his thoughts. It had been gnawing at the back of his mind for a while now. Especially after that date. 

“Thank you. I promise to look after him.”

“You better.” 

 

_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS?!_

_I GOT A LITTLE BIT DISTRACTED!_

_BY WHAT!?_

_WELL, I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT THAT DATE TO TRY AND FIND SOMETHING TO USE AGAINST HIM AND THEN I REMEMBERED HOW MUCH KARNA WAS SMILING AND IT JUST WENT DOWNHILL!_

_OH MY GOD. YOU ARE USELESS!_

_AT LEAST I’M DOING SOMETHING!_

 

“Uh, Arjuna? Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Totally.” 

Siegfried had a strong feeling he was lying. He was just staring at the desk. Not the papers or the laptop, the desk. It was like he was trying to figure out the secrets the nicely polished desk held. As if it had any. Not only that, but he looked a little pale.

“Arjuna? Is Black about to switch in?”

A nod or a shake of the head would have been expected. No movement would also be expected. Arjuna turning around so quickly that the folder in his hand slapped Siegfried was not expected. The force of the slap made the papers inside fly out of the cheap paper folder and onto the floor. 

“I’m sorry for spooking you.”

“If Black comes out again like the previous few times I will revoke any blessing I gave about my brother.”

“I...I don’t know how much I can help with that. I’ll do my best though.”

 

_Fuckin’ helpful bastard._

_Maybe we could try to punch him in the face?_

_You’re an idiot._

_You’re the idiot. You thought that yawning when you were in the same room as other people would get you sick until two years ago!_

_We’re the same person dipshit!_

 

“Uhuh, you do that.”  
-  
-  
-  
“Oh. Great. You’re still here.”

Duryodhana smirked at the frown on Bhima’s face. The tension between them was obvious to everyone in the living room. Expect Karna. He was still under the impression they were simply having a bit of fun between themselves. How after all these years he managed to think that was a mystery all on its own. 

Well, it didn’t matter much. He had been gone for an hour to hold down the flower shop of Hakuno Kishinami while she was dropping off an order for someone nearly four towns away. There was still another hour to go. Which meant the role of keeping order went to the one without a bias. 

 

Which unfortunately left the role to the eternally and internally suffering Siegfried.

 

The situation was this: Kunti decided that since the previous outing went so well they should go for another. Siegfried was dragged into this by Arjuna since he might as well get used to the family if he was serious about Karna. A small part of him hoped that would deter the older teen, instead, it simply strengthened his resolve. What even was this guy?

Arjuna begrudgingly ate the lunch Siegfried had prepared at Karna’s request since he would be out during that time. He was not about to admit it was good. He would never admit such a thing to the enemy.

...Damn it was good. 

What the hell is up with this food? It’s really good. When did he learn to cook?

“What the fuck.” Shit. He said that out loud. Arjuna could feel Yudhishthira's shocked stare on his back.

“Ah, it’s not my recipe. Karna left me one to use.”

That made sense. It was a familiar taste- that fucking bastard. This was supposed to be his pancake recipe. Karna made it specifically for him! Only Karna knew had to make it. Well, his mother taught him the recipe but Karna made his own version just for him!

Krishna looked over to see the gloom surround Arjuna. He guessed this would happen. He had to admit though, Siegfried made some good imitations of Karna’s pancakes. Something tasted a bit off though. 

“Hey, Siegfried, what did you add to this?”

“Hm? Oh, I wasn’t sure what ‘makaranda’ was so I left it out. I wasn’t sure if it was something secret or not.”

Kunti looked at the recipe. Karna had translated everything in the recipe except for ‘makaranda’. Had he been in such a haste to translate it that he overlooked it? Not only that, but he had used her recipe. She wasn’t quite sure when Arjuna and Karna last had it, but it did make her a bit happy her eldest kept the recipe.

“Siegfried. ‘Makarandra’ is just honey.”

“...Oh. Sorry.”  
-  
-  
-  
Kingu opened the door to their and Enkidu’s room. Before quickly turning around and closing the door. God damn it not again. Why could those two be loud the entire time so Kingu didn’t have to walk in like that? Why was Gilgamesh even here in the first place? 

“Aahhn!...Haa!”

WHY COULDN'T GILGAMESH EVER BE QUIET WHEN THEY DID IT?!

The purple-eyed teen went back downstairs. They got some ice cream from the fridge, their headphones, and curled up in a blanket. Kingu was not jealous in the slightest. Especially since that Gilgamesh was a right prick. ...Maybe he was a little—

 

“Aaah! Enkidu!”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP I'M TRYIN’ TO RELAX!”  
-  
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Merlin leaned into the flower shop from its open window. He had stopped by to get Karna’s unique personal bouquet within the final few minutes of his shift. Not that he would stop early just because his shift ended. He would go until it was finished and check if there were any other customers who needed help. 

Karna placed a bouquet in front of Merlin and began to ring him up. The teacher inspected the flowers. Yellow carnations, ferns, marigold, and monkshood. Oh. Oh ho ho. This was good. 

“What have I done to deserve yellow carnations?”

“You know what.”

The teacher smiled. Karna was a smart cookie. Which meant he now had to fail him this quarter. This was deserved. He was not to be out-trolled by his student.

Wait, Karna just gave him this for free. Shit. Now he couldn’t fail him. Damn him and his nicely made bouquet.

 

Hmm...he wondered if he could get Karna to make him a bouquet to seduce his parole officer.  
-  
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As the outing started, Arjuna had the feeling that maybe dragging Siegfried along was a very bad idea. For starters, it meant he couldn’t even get that close to Karna due to him and their brothers. Normally Arjuna would have a spot always open for him but when someone else is competing for that spot he suddenly found it occupied. For once, Arjuna was upset the last outing went so well. There was far more chatter directed towards Karna which meant he couldn’t get much of a word in. It made him want to tear his hair out in frustration. 

At least it couldn’t get any worse.

 

“Heyo Arjuna!!”

 

Speak of the devil, and she will appear.  
-  
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Arjuna wanted to curl up and die right now. Medb was here now and that was a recipe for disaster. The only thing that made it worse is she very clearly saw his silent motions to tell her to leave but choose to ignore them. He’s going to need drastic measures to make sure she doesn’t reveal anything.

“Siegfried. Give me your wallet.”

“Hm? Okay. Why do you-”

“Don’t ask stupid questions.”

“Sorry.”

The dark-skinned teen disappeared into the nearby supermarket. They had stopped near it due to the twins strangely craving sorbet of all things in November. Karna joined in with the sorbet eating, along with Yudhishthira of all people. In fact, the second eldest brother was eating more than the other three. Bhima just munched on a sandwich while glaring at Duryodhana, who himself was doing the same. Siegfried was standing just off to the side with Kunti- both of them were eating sandwiches as they didn’t want something so cold to eat, and Medb. She was eating a popsicle as she spoke to Kunti about Arjuna. 

While Siegfried wasn’t one to eavesdrop, there wasn’t much for him to do at the moment. Karna was busy with the twins and Yudhishthira. Bhima and Duryodhana were having a sort of staring contest that looked more like they were silently planning on murdering the other with their sandwich. Was...was that normal?

“And there was this one time I saw-”

Medb was cut off by a sudden wheel of cheese hurling towards her. The random cheese wheel wasn’t as surprising as the fact she spin-kicked it away from her. She looked around to see a shuffle in the bushes a few feet away. Her eye narrowed.

“Furbaide...”

The pink haired girl left the side of Kunti and looked in the bush. Someone ran out, with Medb on his tail. She was screaming obscenities at him as he sprinted away, yelling vulgarities right back at her. He only looked to be about 8 or 9 years old.

“Okay, I’m back.”

Kunti let out a small yelp while Siegfried looked over in shock at the fact Arjuna was suddenly back next to them.

“What did you get?”

“Just some- wait, where’s Krishna?”

 

Krishna returned about fifteen minutes later with a strange little smile on his face. That and he had 16 dollars less than what he was before.

 

“No seriously, what did you get?”

“Oh, you know, food. And stuff. Here’s your wallet.”

“Ah, okay, thank- how...how is there more money in here than when I gave it to you?”

“Don’t question it.”  
-  
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“So-“

“We will never speak of that again.”

“I’m not the one who was—”

A man with red hair was thrown out the window by a man with long white hair. He chased after the other man who was shouting about something to do with food probably. Medusa sighed as someone came in to switch shifts. They could deal with the problem now.

She needed a lunch break.  
-  
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Siegfried chuckled a little at the sight of the 15-year old Sahadeva riding atop Karna’s shoulders using a stick as a sword against Nakula who was riding atop Bhima’s shoulders and defending himself with his own stick. Arjuna was dragged into joining by holding up a boom mic as Yudhisthira was filming the pseudo sword fight, Krishna was the commentator. Duryodhana had fallen asleep- something that made Siegfried a bit nervous since Arjuna had a certain look on his face when it happened. Kunti was telling the tall teen about how they would do this all the time as kids until Karna moved into his own place and Arjuna followed. Siegfried noticed her voice dropped a tiny bit when she mentioned that, but it quickly picked back up as she continued talking about what they got up to as young children. 

The most surprising part was the fact Karna was a big ol’ ticking time bomb as a kid. Sure, he sometimes had a temper but compared to the stories Kunti was telling it was as if a younger Karna was just waiting for someone to make a wrong move and step on a landmine. Not only that but he was a big troublemaker. Nothing like now, where most of the trouble he found himself in was caused by the fact he didn’t say no to his friend’s ideas. Siegfried was rather confused when she said his temper only cooled down about two years ago. He had met Karna when they were 13 and there was barely any sign of a temper. Someone had to actively push his patience to the end to get anything close to yelling. What caused such a difference?

“Ah, I’m sorry. Those are just some of a mother’s ramblings.”

“It’s fine. It’s a little odd to think of Karna as an angry child to be completely honest.”

“His eyes have always made people think his feeling something he’s not. Most of those stories came from other parents. One time he made a birthday present for me, but no one told him it had already happened the previous month. He looked just about to cry so his brothers all decided to give him their desserts to make him feel better,” She glanced over to her sons before leaning in to whisper, “I found out later he just got some sawdust in his eyes and it was making them water. I’ve never told them the truth. Karna tried to but they thought he was just trying to look tough.”

Siegfried covered his mouth as he snorted. That sounded like something Karna would get himself into. That, and the mental image of Karna as a small child trying to look tough. If he remembered that video correctly, Karna was not that big of a kid. 

 

“Nakula! Attack from the side!

“Don’t yell out the plan you fool!”

 

“Ah right, is Duryodhana supposed to be here? The others seem a little tense around him.”

“It _is_ a family outing”

 

“...and I kinda forgot he was still here.”  
-  
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“So. You’re probably wondering how I ended up here.”

“How many times do I have to tell you, GET OUT OF MY HOUSE MERLIN!”

“I feel like you’re being a little selfish here.”

“It takes 2 seconds to call the police.”

“I’ll be gone in one.”  
-  
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Around an hour into the mini-adventure that the twins had dragged the group into, Kunti began to feel the fatigue of being pulled around by the youngest two there. Despite Karna and Siegfried offering when it first started, Kunti ended up being carried by Bhima. Mainly because he didn’t have anything in his hands that had been shoved into them by the others. 

The group stopped at a cafe, where two friends of Karna were currently working. Archer, the...uh, possibly older brother of Shirou, and Cu. Well actually, Cu had been dragged into working as Archer’s coworker was out sick and the next employee couldn't come in until their shift. Duryodhana didn’t notice the nervousness in the blue-haired teen’s eyes. It was a rather slow day at the cafe, the only people there was Medusa with her sisters and Asterios. They were absorbed in a conversation- well Euryale and Stheno were, Medusa and Asterios simply listened on. 

“What can I get you all for today?”

Yudhishthira made a quick count and Karna ordered, “Triple of the usual.”

“That’ll be $78.”

What on earth was the usual to rank up such a cost??

While Archer was preparing the food and Bhima went to sit Kunti down in a booth, Cu and Karna took up some small talk. Which meant it was mostly Cu talking to his friend. The phone rang in the back, Archer took the hot drinks and gave them Karna before hurrying into the back. Siegfried brought them back to the tables where Nakula and Sahadeva began to drink the beverages that had yet to cool down. Nakula mumbled it was too cold for some reason. 

Yudhisthira also began to drink his still steaming drink, almost entirely in one gulp. Siegfried really had no idea how to react to those three. Even Bhima was waiting a little bit until the drink cooled down. Actually...Yudhisthira was drinking another one in nearly one gulp. How was he able to do that so easily. 

“Pfft! He’s not my knight in shining armor.”

The two tables turned to see Cu with a pout on his face. They couldn’t see Karna’s face, but his head was titled in a way that made it seem like he knew Cu was lying. Siegfried was very nervous at the smirk on Krishna’s face.

“Hey Cu, I think Medb is still close by.”

Cu’s face turned sheet white. He back away slowly before turning and running at Archer who returned from the back room and had begun making the sandwiches.

“Protect me my knight in shining armor!”

“CU WHAT THE FUCK I HAVE A KNIFE!”

 

Archer apologized for how long the sandwiches took. Artoria came to replace Cu but found him hiding behind the counter, terrified that Medb would see him. It took 30 minutes to get him out from under there.  
-  
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“Kid, that still doesn’t explain why you ended up a strip club as a stripper despite being a minor.”

Medb huffed, “I haven’t gotten there yet. I’m still on why I ended up punting my nephew into that homeless guy.”

The police officer put his head in his hands. This had been going on for two hours and he was somehow more lost than when she started. Ugh, this was a nightmare.

 

“What does a barbershop quartet have to do with anything?”

“That’s where I got the knife!”

“What happened to the other four?”  
-  
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Nakula and his twin looked at one another. Sahadeva knew exactly what the plan was for Siegfried and Arjuna. How he knew, he would never tell. But, he had a plan himself. It was a few little tests for Siegfried. The twins couldn’t exactly test Arjuna, he was their elder brother which meant he had superiority. They would focus on the outsider for now.

“Hey, Siegfried. Are you aware of something about Karna?”

“Huh?”

“Well, you see, we’re not actually half brothers.”

Ah, he had mentioned in passing that his youngest brothers were actually from Kunti’s husband’s other marriage. It was a little surprising, they looked like Karna more than any of his other siblings. Maybe it was a just a coincidence?

“He’s actually our uncle.”

Siegfried’s expression was a shocked smile mixed with stunned silence.

“He’s also Yudhisthira’s uncle. But they’re still half-brothers as well.”

_Huh._

Both the twins were smacked upside the head by the previously mentioned elder brother. Yudhisthira sighed, those two really shouldn’t be airing out such things. Hopefully, this wouldn’t be too strange to Karna’s friend.

“Uh…”

Great. Now, this had to be explained. Why were His youngest brothers like this?

“Allow me to explain. So, Surya and mother had Karna. Then she met my father. Expect, she didn’t know my father was Surya’s son. And that revaluation didn’t occur until she met back up with Surya years later at that class holiday party. The same thing happened with Nakula and Sahadeva’s fathers. They just happened to be twins...and sons of Surya. He likes to tease our mother about it.

We’re...not quite sure what to refer to Surya as to this day. It’s uh, a rather strange situation. We just count Karna as our brother though, due to our mother and the fact we’re so close in age.”

Siegfried nodded mutely. Really, only Karna could be in this sort of situation. Well, at least it explained why Nakula and Sahadeva looked so much like Karna though. Now that he thought about it, Yudhisthira did have a similar look to him as well. But he still looked more like Bhima and Arjuna.

“It's their mom's genes. We take more from our own.”

“I see. That explains it.”

 

“Wait...Surya didn’t look a day over 25 during that birthday video. Just how old is he?”

“We’re scared to ask.”  
-  
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Karna let out a sneeze, scaring Bhima and Duryodhana. Kunti hadn’t seemed to notice as she continued looking at the book in her hands. She still wasn’t sure why that boy gave her a book about sun facts. 

What was that boy’s name? Ramesses? Meryemana? Whatever it was, he was apparently a friend of Karna’s. Her eldest had always had...interesting friends. She supposed it was in the blood. Surya has some odd friends himself. 

 

Now that she thought about it, Yudhisthira and the twins had a few strange ones as well. Maybe it was in the blood. At least those scary eyes weren’t as big in the others...hmm...maybe they were actually.  
-  
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“Hey teach.”

“Hello, succubus spawn.”

“Bitch you know I’m a full-blown succubus!”

“Bitch no you ain’t.”

 

The poor police officer sighed deeply into his hands. Now he had _two_ crazy people to deal with. God, how could this get any worse?

“Frank, that idol-girl is back- why...why are you crying?”  
-  
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-  
“Arjuna.”

“Yes?”

“Why are you cross-dressing?”

“...I need to get something.”

With that, Arjuna went off, leaving Siegfried alone with the group. The strange part was Krishna had no idea what his best friend was planning. That was very concerning. No one else noticed Arjuna going off on his own, maybe that was for the best. Though, Siegfried was a bit worried about how unconcerned Krishna was with the situation. 

Ah, there wasn’t much he could do about it. He started to eat his sandwich. Siegfried had worked up a bit of an appetite after carrying Nakula and Sahadeva around for an hour on his shoulders. Why he agreed to do that was something he was still unsure of. He took a bite and realized he had just clicked his teeth together. He just had a sandwich- was...was that a seagull? It was November and nowhere near the beach. What the heck.  
-  
-  
-  
“Here you go, ma’am. Oh hey, Brihannala. What’s up? Haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Ah, just some family business. Do you have more of those sleeping pills?”

“Are they not working anymore?”

“Oh no they work, but I lost them while I was out of town…”

The store clerk nodded, the girl was a bit clumsy. He rang up the pill bottle and gave the girl the bag and receipt. She smiled and thanked him, almost tripping over her own two feet on the way out. Brihannala flushed red in embarrassment and quickly walked out of the store. The clerk chuckled. That girl was kinda cute.

 

Arjuna let out an annoyed huff. He wasn’t a fan of playing such a role when he needed something like that. It was even more annoying when he had to force himself to trip like that. One of these days he’s going to fall flat on his face. But today, today was not that day.

On the bright side, he had those pills. Now, he would just have to sneak it into a piece of food. Yes, this plan would work perfectly. 

 

_So...what now?_

_What the hell are you talking about!?_

_I don’t know! Usually, the chapter cuts off at this point!_

_What the hell does that mean!?_

_Black said-_

_BLACK DOESN’T KNOW SHIT!_

_STOP YELLING AT ME!_

_STOP BEING AN IDIOT!_

_WE’RE THE SAME PERSON ASSHOLE!_

 

Arjuna groaned as he held his head. He could feel a headache coming on. How annoying.  
-  
-  
-  
Siegfried was still staring at his hand in confusion when Arjuna returned, no longer dressed as a girl. Apparently, he had been in a state of shock for the last 30 minutes. Karna was pacing as he tried to think of a way to get his friend out of the stupor he was in. Arjuna smacked Siegfried up the head, only for it to do nothing. His hand probably hurt more than Siegfried did in all honesty. That was a bit disturbing. Wait...was he wet?

Krishna held up an empty bucket from behind Karna. They had tried to use water to shake him out of confusion, only to get nothing in response. What the heck happened to that guy to cause this?

“...Seagull...how...why...what...sandwich...”

Aaand he’s broken. Great. He’s going to have to do this on his own. Well, that should be easy-

Any thought was immediately cut off by Karna suplexing the 190 cm tall teen. Arjuna’s mouth dropped open. How on earth was that supposed to help!? When did Karna even learn that!? What the actual fuck?!

“Do a breakdown!”

“No! Do a full nelson!”

Kunti slapped both Bhima and Duryodhana with the back of her hand. Honestly, those two were so troublesome sometimes. Not that the others did get involved in a handful of trouble themselves.

Siegfried tapped out, shaking off the last bit of confusing from his head. Karna pulled him up with the same blank face he had on the entire time. Arjuna, Krishna, and Yudhisthira all still had their jaws hanging in shock. Sahadeva didn’t seem surprised at all and Nakula was taking pictures rapid fire. A few onlookers were also stuck in shock, especially those two people with long hair and fake mustaches holding cameras.  
-  
-  
-  
Jalter looked over slowly to her twin, who was still staring with wide eyes. That...that had not just happened, right? Jeanne met her eyes with a look that was asking the same thing. When had Karna learned that move and why did he use it now of all times? 

Of course, this caused a new idea to pop into both Jeanne and Jalter’s head. Normally they drew Karna on the bottom...but with this, they had a whole new market. Karna on top. While Jeanne kept her excitement under wraps, Jalter was drooling under her scarf. Oh ho, the things she could draw. Maybe that ‘B’ reader would enjoy that…  
-  
-  
-  
Krishna looked from behind the building. Karna was preoccupied with Yuddhisthira and Kunti was busy listening to the twins. They had the opportunity now. 

Through a series of events that involved destroying 4 benches on accident, an encounter with a few of the kids Karna babysat who had been stalking them for some reason, burning 2 flowcharts after getting them soaked, and a small freak out over a guy who looked like he didn’t have a head with his high collar walking a giant dog...wolf...thing, the four-person group managed to knock Duryodhana out with sleeping pills. Siegfried was about to ask why they would need to take Duryodhana out of the picture for a bit before Bhima looked him in the eye and said it was for the best. He decided it was best to just accept that reason. 

After Arjuna called up Arto- ahem, the mysterious A-X who was driving a fruit truck to cover for Cu. Cu was still hiding in cafe’s back room, not taking the chance that Medb would see him. A-X stated she only knew this from a secret source. Loading the knocked out Duryodhana onto the back of the truck, the group returned to the others.

“Ah, where’s Duryodhana and Bhima?”

 

 

 _SHIT!_  
-  
-  
-  
“Why am I in a fruit truck again.”

“Why AM I in a fruit truck with you?”

Duryodhana turned over to get back to sleep. He and Bhima were not having a repeat of that one time. He looked over to glare at his cousin once again before going back to sleep only to find him with his arms full of fruit and eating them.

“What are-”

“It’s a long ride and I’m hungry. Shut up. Bitch.”

“I’m not the one who tripped into a fruit truck. _Twice._ Bitch.”

 

A-X couldn’t hear the arguing due to the music playing loudly from her headphones. The truck jerked a little, which caused A-X to panic. She looked over to the seat next to her quickly. Ah, thank god. Her black bean paste was still safe.  
-  
-  
-  
They found out Bhima and Duryodhana had been dropped off four towns over. Thankfully, Nightingale had been driving Rama and Sita on a road trip around the same time. She did not let an opportunity to critic someone’s health go away, so the two had to suffer the passive wrath of a nurse who definitely knew how to kill both of them in their sleep. She probably knew how to do it while they were awake. How did Rama and Sita deal with this mad woman?

Kunti took Yudhisthira, Bhima, and the twins home, deciding it was time to call it a day. The rest of the group practically collapsed on the couch and chairs when they returned to Karna’s house. Everyone expects Karna that was. He was up and moving, making a small meal for all of them. Even Siegfried had to take a breather, though that might have been because of that time he got suplexed onto the hard concrete. 

Duryodhana mumbled out a question that sounded like he was asking what time it was.

“Hm? Oh, it’s only 6:30.”

 

W-wha…? How was that possible? It couldn’t be only six hours since this all started. Karna was joking, right? Right?

“No.”

Had they all said that out loud?  
-  
-  
-  
Arjuna sunk into his bed with his blanket pulled above his head. At this point, he just wanted to go to sleep. It was exhausting to spend so much time with people-

“Siegfried and Karna just went on a date.”

Krishna watched as Arjuna shot up from the bed with new found energy. Changing into another pair of clothes, he went out to follow the two. Krishna began to eat a tub of butter as Duryodhana laid passed out on the couch. He was a bit too tired to follow Arjuna. 

Eh, how much trouble could he get into at this rate?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This...this is really late. I know. I'm sorry. I kept reordering things and rewriting it and it was just a mess. I'll try to get the next part out quicker as well as the endings. I don't even know if this one is good anymore...
> 
>  
> 
> On a lighter note, Servants who came home while writing this: Gawain and Jack the Ripper.


	21. Countdown To The Final Showdown! : Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _The date was rather spontaneous. Brynhildr had texted Siegfried that she and Sigurd weren’t going to be able to make their dinner reservations. Thus, it was offered up to him for the taking so it didn’t go to waste. The reason they were not going to make the reservation was the fact Sigurd was tied up at the moment. Literally. Brynhildr’s sisters had tied him up with rope and she was currently trying to find him. It was a rather normal date night for them in all honesty. At least his brother found nice spots for their dates that didn’t get interrupted- a rare treat that was._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aka: I Finished This In Iceland So Technically This Is From The Future

The date was rather spontaneous. Brynhildr had texted Siegfried that she and Sigurd weren’t going to be able to make their dinner reservations. Thus, it was offered up to him for the taking so it didn’t go to waste. The reason they were not going to make the reservation was the fact Sigurd was tied up at the moment. Literally. Brynhildr’s sisters had tied him up with rope and she was currently trying to find him. It was a rather normal date night for them in all honesty. At least his brother found nice spots for their dates that didn’t get interrupted- a rare treat that was. 

Another rare treat was Karna finally got to use the suit Vlad had gifted him. They stopped by Siegfried’s house– which was conveniently on the way to the restaurant, to allow Siegfried to change into something more fitting for the slightly more-formal-than-usual restaurant. Vlad’s handmade suit somehow seemed almost too formal for the dinner. Maybe the fact it had golden threaded designs was the reason. 

As they were walking towards the restaurant, Siegfried reached out and brushed Karna’s hair to the side. So he had been right, Karna almost looked like a mob boss in that suit. If he had another coat to hang off his shoulders, the look would have been complete. He noticed Karna was looking at him with a raised eyebrow and a small smirk. He blushed and looked away, he had been staring. 

When they arrived the maitre-d’ brought them to the reserved table, it was on the balcony- most likely Brynhildr’s decision, and they were the only one out there. It was a bit chilly, so perhaps that’s why it wasn’t as popular that day. Or maybe Brynhildr actually made sure that no one would be there when it was for her and Sigurd. She could be scary like that. 

The server arrived, starting to introduce herself and get them some drinks when she paused at seeing Karna. Well, it was more accurate to she froze a small bit at seeing him. Karna wasn’t entirely sure why until she spoke again.

“Karna?”

“Vrushali?”

Siegfried looked between the two of them and the menu. Apparently, they knew each other. He did wonder why they looked so surprised at seeing one another though. Karna wasn’t exactly unknown in the town. Both of them noticed Siegfried’s confused look.

“Ah, this is my ex.”  
-  
-  
-  
“Waver. You are 19 years old. Do you really still feel the need to disguise yourself every time we hang out?”

The aforementioned 19-year-old glared at Islander from across the table at the gaming cafe. The short answer was ‘yes, yes he did’. The long answer was ‘my brother won’t notice me due to me looking like a girl’. Waver wasn’t big on gaming cafes, but that meant it would be one of the last places his brother looked. 

Thankfully, this outing had gone rather well so far— 

“Checkmate.”

“Damn it, Iskander!”

How had he gotten past his defenses?! It should have been impossible for a checkmate to happen on his side–

Oh...his pawn was a single space off. Of course. He should have double checked that before moving four turns back. Great. Now he had to pay for the meal.

“I shall order a feast to celebrate this victory!”

“You’re just sentencing my wallet to death!!”  
-  
-  
-  
Vrushali was apparently Karna’s girlfriend when they were just exiting middle school and entering high school. Her father’s job had her relocated and while the two tried a long distance relationship, it hadn’t worked out for them. She had moved again after that and they lost contact. It was a bit awkward for them to see each other after all that time, especially since Karna was on a date. The awkwardness soon melted away into a comfortable round of teasing for old times sake. They even teased Siegfried a little, who was stuck between trying not to laugh at their banter and trying not to blush at the teasing. 

Since it wasn’t that busy and there were more than enough serves, Vrushali was able to spend a bit more time in between orders to talk. When Karna left to use the bathroom, she unintentionally- read as intentionally, gave Siegfried some tips for the date. She wasn’t like many exes in movies who were jealous their partner had moved on, in fact, she was quite happy. Or as she said, she was happy if Karna was happy- it’s been that way since they were little. Apparently, at their middle school, Karna was the object of affection for two other girls besides herself. At least, that’s who she knew about. One of them was best friends with- funny enough, Duryodhana’s girlfriend, while the other was a girl from a very rich family. 

Now that he thought about it, Siegfried was sure Karna had mentioned them in passing. In fact, he was pretty sure Karna had mentioned Vrushali before but when?

“Ah! You were the girl who broke her water bottle in shock when Karna meet you right?”

Karna returned to the table to find Vrushali glaring at him.

“You son of a bitch.”

“I’m not the one who broke a metal water bottle.”

“Oh...I thought it was plastic.”

Siegfried realized he probably shouldn’t have said that. Vrushali turned to Karna with something of a forced smile. Had she been off duty, they were all certain she would have been flipping Karna off jokingly. 

“Once I’m off duty, I am killing you until you are so very dead.”

“Ah? You’ll have to wait in line. There are a lot of people who wish to do so.”

“Oh, there are other people now! I thought I was special!”

Karna his behind his menu- either to curb his laughter or hide his embarrassment. It wasn’t like he intended to piss people off so much. Most of the time. Okay, some of the time. 

...He didn’t have a quota to meet. Maybe he did. Maybe just a little. Just a tiny bit. 

 

“He still has you listed as Water-Bottle Break—“ Siegfried was cut off by Karna quickly shoving bread into his mouth. After he swallowed the bread, Karna held up another one almost threateningly. “Water-Bottle Break—“ more bread was shoved unceremoniously into his mouth. 

“Oh, you are so very dead.”  
-  
-  
-  
Arjuna watched the date through binoculars from Medb’s balcony. She was lounging in her swimsuit- despite it being November, in order to moonbath. Or something else just as crazy. Whatever it was, Arjuna didn't care enough to ask. 

What he did care enough to ask was how Vrushali was back. He had thought using his father’s influence to get them to move twice because of her father’s job and get both Karna and her to need new contacts would rid her for good. Apparently not! Granted he was in middle school when that went down...he most likely didn’t plan that far in. 

“Hey ‘Juna, do I look paler to you?”

“One, you have never been given the right to call me that. Two, no you don’t.”

“You’re not even looking at me!”

“You. Are. Irish. How much paler do you need to be?!”

“Karna-level—! Wait, is he an albino? That might put a dent in my plan.”

“I want you to think long and hard about Karna and figure out if that’s possible.” 

Arjuna returned to watching the date- did...did Karna just violently shove bread into Siegfried’s mouth? Damn, he should have brushed up on his lip reading. He had no idea what was going on over there. 

Seriously what the fuck is happening over there? Karna has been violently shoving bread at Siegfried for the past 5 minutes. Vrushali left to get the rest of their meal most likely. None of that explained why any of that was happening though. 

“Hey, Medb. Can you—“

Medb was on the floor, mapping out a large flow chart. So far, the original bubble had 37 offshoots with at least 10 offshoots to themselves. What is she even doing?

“No...his eyesight is too good for ocular albinism…”

It’s been 5 minutes how is there so many offshoots? How had it nearly doubled in the time he was looking at it? What sorcery is this?

“Juna, does he have any skin conditions?”

“One, don’t call me that. Two, unless you count immunity to burns of any kind, no.”

 

“What the fuck is this guy.”  
-  
-  
-  
Diarmuid had now searched every single one of Waver’s usual hang out spots only to find nothing. Where on earth could his brother be? There was no way the two of them were hiding, no, Iskander was far too big to pull that off. Where were they?

He hadn’t noticed that he had passed the gaming cafe no less than five times already. Which meant he was completely missing who he was looking for. Waver held his breath everything time Diarmuid passed, hoping to whatever god existed he wouldn’t notice them.

About halfway through his 6th loop, he felt as if someone was watching him. With his luck, it was another stalker of his. He abandoned the loop after checking where he was and went into a crowded place. Hopefully, that would deter this supposed stalker of his. 

 

Sola-Ui kicked Kayneth’s head with her foot as she stood atop his shoulders. They hadn’t been quite enough and Diarmuid had realized they were there. Honestly, why was her husband so stupid? All she wanted to do was check up on her son.

Oh right. She had two of those. Weird how she kept forgetting that. ...Uh, who was the second one again? Right, Waver. ...How old was he again?

 

When Diarmuid exited the crowd, he found he no longer felt as if he was being stalked. This was good, he didn’t need another incident like last time. That particular one nearly cost him his friendship with Fionn. 

Now, where was he? Ah right, looking for his little brother to ensure he wasn’t on a date with _that_ guy. What? It’s completely normal to still be protective of a younger sibling even if they are 19!  
-  
-  
-  
“Partial albinism?”

“Nope.”

“...Carrier?”

“Carriers don’t have symptoms.”

Medb groaned as she laid back onto the cold stone balcony. They had been at this for an hour. They simply couldn’t make it fit as albinism. It didn’t make sense genetically either, white hair had to be recessive. Blue eyes were most definitely recessive. It could work if Kunti was a carrier of those genes, but it didn’t seem likely. 

Ugh, this was way too much work. Hmm, maybe she could just bleach her skin? No, too much work. Also, that would burn. Probably would ruin her skin too. Yes, her skin was too perfect for this. It was a complete waste of time to focus on this.

“Alright, Arjuna– Huh? Arjuna? Aarjuunaa?”

Where was he? How did he disappear like that? What happened to her pictures of Karna for the comparison between skin tones? Well, at least she still had the digital copies on her phone—

These are never going to see the light of day ever again. 

Kind regards,  
Arjuna

“AR-JU-NA!” 

The wall now had three new holes.

 

Arjuna tossed the pictures into a bonfire. Even he wasn’t that creepy to keep photos like that. His were P-13 thank you very much. Black left him complaints a lot because of that. Stupid pervert. Reading about imagined porn written by Jalter was a completely different matter! It wasn’t real for starters. For other reasons, such scenarios would never happen in real life. 

The main reason being— who was he trying to explain this to? He was alone burning pictures so they would be gone from the face of the earth. Wow, his life really has gone downhill. Maybe that therapist was right about him being on a downward spiral if he didn’t actually accept help with his problems. Granted they also said his feelings towards his brother were becoming very much a complex and obsessive—...okay, he might be correct about that second part. But it was an obsession for a good reason! And he did not have a complex! 

 

_Definitely has a complex._

_Oh yeah. How much you want to bet he realizes that after like 5 chapters?_

_I’m betting for 2 chapters._

_Alright, how much you got?_

_I have...exactly -$23.67._

_Prepare to lose that money._

_Wouldn’t it be a win since it’s negative? And how much do I get if I win?_

_Uhhh…like 30 bucks._

_Deal. Wait, how do you even have money?_

_I dunno, found it in my back pocket._

_We’re thoughts. We don’t have pockets._

_...found it in my back pocket._

 

Huh. How the hell did his train of thought end up there– SHIT! THAT’S ACTUAL MONEY HE’S THROWING INTO THE FIRE!  
-  
-  
-  
“Have you ever thought about living in the countryside?”

Siegfried pondered the sudden question as they left the restaurant. Living out in the middle of nowhere did have some perks but also plenty of drawbacks. For one, he’d be far away from family and friends. Though it was much quieter out there. 

“It would depend I guess. I wouldn’t be in a rush to move out there but I wouldn’t say I’d never do it.”

“Ah, I can think similarly. My younger brother wanted to try it out. He says it’s easier to see the stars out there,” Karna smiles softly as he shook his head, “He has his head in the stars so much I think it might be better to keep him away from so many.”

“That would be...Sahadeva, right?”

Karna nodded. From what Siegfried knew about the youngest brother, he was an adamant fan of astrology. When the first star showed up that night, he had been able to immediately identify it. It was almost scary how fast and accurate he could be. What didn’t help with that fact was Nakula telling him Sahadeva could predict the future, but he couldn’t tell anyone that future or his head would split in half. The nonchalant attitude everyone had to the statement was even more worrying. 

“They’re all so strange sometimes. I don’t quite get it.”

“Mhm, I feel the same about Sigurd and Sieg sometimes. I don’t think I’ll ever quite understand them.”

“Hm, maybe it’s the curse of being the oldest.”

“Maybe.”

The two lapsed into a comfortable silence. The soft light of the street lamps illuminated the sidewalks and streets. The people still up and about were almost all in they’re way back home. The workers, the couples, the occasional children, all of them were returning to a home. Hopefully a warm home with a nice roommate or loving family. 

The few fireflies that hadn’t left quite yet lighted up the dark bushes. The warmer than usual night must have convinced them to stay out just a bit longer. A few ventured past their bushes, often brushing past people and the occasional animal. 

Siegfried felt something touch his hand. He looked down, believing it to be a lightning bug or perhaps his jacket brushing against his hand. Instead, he found another hand intertwined with his. It wasn’t very noticeable, they were laced together lightly. He gave a small squeeze as he brought the hands closer together, erecting a small smile on both their faces.

Ah, this was nice.  
-  
-  
-  
Iskander peeked past the edge of the corner. 

“The coast is clear.”

Waver peeked last as well, just to check if he was telling the truth. Diarmuid wasn’t anywhere in sight. It probably was safe to go out now. He still needed to think of a way to get back home without alerting parents– actually, they probably hadn’t even noticed he was gone. He could be out until next week and they’d probably only notice when Diarmuid lamented he had failed tremendously to find his brother. Hmm...was it really a good sign that the only one who really noticed him in that house was the one he was currently trying to avoid. Probably not. Maybe he should–

“Boy, stop thinking so hard. You’re going to boil your brain.”

“I told you to stop calling me that! And I will not!”

“I can see the steam rising from your ears.”

“Shut up.”

They both looked around once more before carefully coming out from the alleyway next to the gaming cafe. He must have completed his loop and was on the other end of it. Which meant they had a few minutes to get out of the loop and back home. Alright, this should be easy. 

Or it would have been if Iskander hadn’t thrown him over his shoulder and began to run in the opposite direction. Waver attempted poorly to cover his butt with the wind from Islander’s running pushed the skirt over. 

“Iskander what the heck?!”

“Diarmuid was making his way here, had to change plans.”

“My ass is on full display!”

“Oh please, it’s not the first time it’s happened tonight.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?!”

“During the trivia game, you jumped up a lot to answer so it bounced up with you.”

Waver hid his face in his hands, blushing deeply. God, how he could embarrass himself like that. Especially in this outfit.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“You were really getting into it and I didn’t want to stop your fun. Oh, the bright side we got all points.”

 

Iskander wasn’t going to mention the fact that about half the teams behind them were too busy staring at Waver’s ass to answer anything.  
-  
-  
-  
Karna stopped Siegfried at a fountain. He pulled a coin out from his pocket, something that had been left there the last time he wore it, and tossed it into the pool of water. He handed one to Siegfried, who tossed it in as well. Unfortunately, it didn’t land in the pool. No, it landed on the water being jetted up towards the sky. They could see it bounce with the changing heights. 

Really, only Siegfried could have luck like that. Or, perhaps bad luck worked better here. Karna offered him another, to which he shook his head. He didn’t need another. Even if it hadn’t gone into the pool, it would eventually drop down. 

It wasn’t it could stay there forever, right?  
-  
-  
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Arjuna watched as the two left the fountain hand in hand. If he could just glare a tiny bit harder, he was sure Siegfried would spontaneously combust into flames. Ah, he would have to be careful there though. He didn’t want to be the rebound if Karna felt grief at that. No, he would have to be extremely subtle and careful if he wanted to kill Siegfried. It would have to be years in the making without Karna suspecting a thing. It would have to be very carefully cleaned as to not lead back to him, but there wasn’t really anyone who wished to harm Siegfried that much. A mob hit wouldn’t make sense either, he wouldn’t ever get involved with the mob. Not willingly at least. A hitman? No, that could be traced back to him. Maybe through a third party? Too risky. What to do...

Damn, he spent too long thinking. They’re out of sight now. He would have to follow them by the most likely path they would have taken. He got up onto the marble of the fountain to get a better view. If he moved just a little bit back he could see– AH CRAP! 

Arjuna’s foot went straight into the pool. He fell back into the cold water. As well as into a bunch of coins. That was going to hurt his back either now or later. Did...did someone put a rock in here? Oh, that was going to hurt very very soon. He got up and exited the fountain. The friggin’ coin was still on the water spout, somehow. He was going to need a change of clothes. Where to find them though–

“Hey, Juny, over here!”

Whom the fuck? Oh, it’s just Merlin—wait MERLIN?!

The teacher had a set of clothes over his arm. His free arm was waving frantically. Well, he had an answer to the clothing problem now.  
-  
-  
-  
Diarmuid followed the yelling down the alleyway. His brother was surely half undressed from what he heard. Dear god, what was that man doing to him? He was way too young for this sort of thing!

...Okay, legally Waver was old enough. But he was still his little brother! Iskander was at least 5 years older than him. He would have to fight him tooth and nail for wanting his brother like that. No, he would not fail again. Not after last time. 

There! 

“Waver!”

Waver quickly hid behind the much, much larger man. Too quickly for Diarmuid to tell if his pants were off or not. Iskander still had his own pants on. Maybe it hadn’t happened yet? Yes! There was still a chance! 

“Unhand my brother this instant. I will not take him by force if you do so immediately.”

“I don’t think you want that.”

“Three seconds and I take my brother back by force. Three.”

“I really don’t think you want to do that.”

“Two.”

“The amount of crap you will find is not what you want.”

“On—“ 

Diarmuid trailed off as Waver got out from behind Iskander. His jaw dropped. Was he...was he in the skirt?!

“Listen. I can explain.”

 

“Let me get this straight...you decided to crossdress, to avoid me, to hang out with him, just to play games at the gaming cafe?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I said.”

Diarmuid sighed as he covered his face. This was complete madness. Was...was he really so restricting that Waver felt the need to do something like this? He was just looking out for his brother. Was he actually being too overprotective? 

Well, he could lament over that point later. There was something very important he had to do first. More important than asking if the two had been doing it.

“Let’s get you some pants.”

“Please. My legs have been freezing for half an hour.”

 

“Oh, are you two done now?”

Waver and Diarmuid looked over to find Iskander eating chips as if he was watching a tv show episode play out.  
-  
-  
-  
“Why are you here again?”

“Eh, I wasn’t doing my best helping out so I decided to step in. You can cut them off if you take the alleyway here.”

Arjuna thanked the teacher, a bit wary of how quickly he was able to come to his aid, however. He wasn’t going to question it, however. No, he had bigger fish to fry. As he began to make his way down the alleyway, Merlin called out to tell him to thank Krishna for the bail money. He...was unsure what to think and feel about that. 

He finally caught up to them, staying just a few feet back as to not alert them to his presence. They were still holding hands. He just needed to get them to separate before this date went on even longer. 

By the looks of it, the two of them were just walking about. What kind of date was that? Especially since this was the town they live in. What, was it too late to go anywhere interesting? Was Siegfried that uncreative? He could think of at least 10 different things to after a dinner. 

Why the heck did Karna look so happy with something this lame?! Of course, he’d be happy something so lackluster, it wasn’t like he had high standards to begin with. Duryodhana was proof of that. Well, it was just hand holding. Wasn’t like Siegfried could have steel nerves the entire day. Arjuna smirked from his spot in the bush. Yes, those nerves would die very soon.

 

“Ah, Karna, may I kiss you?”

“Hm? Sure.”

 

N to the O to the double fuck NO.  
-  
-  
-  
The two of them shot back from one another when a rock came rocketing towards the empty space between their heads. It hit the brick wall, chipping off some of the paint. Karna’s head shot over to where the rock came from to find Arjuna standing in a bush, fuming. He marched up to Siegfried and pulled him away by his collar. He told Karna through gritted teeth he simply wanted to ‘talk’ to Siegfried. The tall teen being pulled away looked at Karna, confusion very visible on his face.  
-  
-  
-  
Once out of Karna’s sight and hearing range, Arjuna pulled Siegfried down by his collar to face him eye to eye. 

“What was that?”

“Uh, it was supposed to be a-”

“Don’t you say it.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t understand why you’re so upset-”

Arjuna gripped Siegfried’s hair and began to pull.

“Stop acting so naive and connect the dots! Why would I want to share my brother with someone else when my entire reason for asking for your help was to stop his attention being on other people!”

“Well, you are his little brother- ow, and I figured it was quite normal for you wanting more of his attention.”

“How the hell are you this dense!?”

“I’m sorry- ow.”

Siegfried’s hair was let go of mercifully, allow him a brief relief before Arjuna began to pull at it once more.

“I want you to think. Do you not think it’s strange that Black is so perverted towards him?”

“Well- ow, it’s just your feelings- ow, perverted.”

“And what feelings would be perverted into that?”

“Any sort of affection- ow, really.”

“What form of brotherly affection can become perverted to the point he reads porn of Karna and me?”

“I suppose- wait. You knew about that?”

The sudden question catches Arjuna off guard. Shit. He wasn’t supposed to let him know that. He could still salvage this. 

“He left a copy on my nightstand. Now answer the question.”

“I mean, you two are close. It’s not a stretch to think the perversion went that far.”

“Oh my god, how are you this ignorant? I literally proposed to him!”

It took a few moments for it to register fully in Siegfried’s head. At first, he tried to justify it with the fact the two of them had been children. Then, that started to make less and less sense. Arjuna was far too willing to find ways to get rid of people he saw as competition. Especially when it came to Duryodhana. If he just wanted Karna's attention, why couldn't he simply ask Karna to spend more time with him? Why would he want to actively put someone in the hospital or attempt to make them a missing person? Then it clicked. Arjuna wasn't just after Karna's attention. He actually wanted to marry him. That wasn't a child's strange thought process, that was an actual proposal. 

But, that was nearly 11 years ago. Why would Arjuna still be so dead set on this? Wouldn't something like that go away as he grew up?

"You...you do know you can't- ow, actually marry him, right?"

"Yes, yes, the whole minors getting married thing. I've heard it before and I have a solution."

"Not what I meant- ow."  
-  
-  
-  
Duryodhana was awoken by his phone ringing next to him on the floor. He's got to stop falling asleep on the couch. He answered to find Karna calling him. Wasn't he on a date?

"Duryo, I have to ask something."

"I can not walk you through sex."

"Duryodhana."

"Alright. I'll take this seriously. What happened?"

"Arjuna dragged Siegfried off to have a talk with him."

Krishna heard a loud groan come from the living room. He leaned in to find Duryodhana's hand slapped across his face. Was he ready to repent for what he's done to their cousins after all this time? 

"Karna, only you could have this happen."

Damn it. So much for hoping a miracle would happen. It was curious Karna was calling him though. Had the date gone that badly?

"Wait, so Arjuna threw a rock at you two?"

Before Karna could answer him, Krishna snatched the phone out of his hands. As he tried to get it back, the younger teen simply put a foot down on his face to keep him away. He had completely taken over talking to Karna.

"Quick, relay what happened."

"Siegfried and I were having a date. We were about to kiss. Then Arjuna showed up from a bush and threw a rock at us. He and Siegfried are still having the talk."

 _God damn it Arjuna._ Okay, Krishna could still pull this in Arjuna's favor. After all, that was what best friends did. All he had to do was convince Karna to still go with Arjuna after all this.

At least that was the plan until Duryodhana dragged his arm down to reach the phone once more. He pried it from Krishna's grasp and held it up to his ear. Krishna tried to reach for it only to be pushed away by Duryodhana's hand. This called for drastic measures.

Duryodhana was hit in the face with a throw pillow, allowing the phone to be snatched up. The other retaliated by pulling up one of Krishna's legs, causing him to fall over. The phone was seized in the air before being dropped to the ground by Krishna slamming into Duryodhana's stomach. Both of them began to wrestle over the phone. Karna was completely unaware of what was happening as he explained his problem. Krishna had his foot on Duryodhana's face while Duryodhana had his arm around Krishna’s waist in attempt to pull him down. They were having a tug of war over the phone. In amidst their little battle, they hadn’t noticed Karna had been put on speaker.

“Ah, what do you I should do?”

While his voice wasn’t very loud, Duryodhana had his volume on max. Making Karna’s voice echo in the room. In their shock, the two of them fell against one another and the phone landed on the padded carpet. Krishna reached up to turn the volume down a bit before speaking.

“I’m sorry Karna. Could you repeat literally everything you just said?”

“Oh, sure.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vrushali is the name usually attributed to Karna's first wife, who was the daughter of a charioteer. (At least, that is a name that shows up a lot in my research.) The other two girls are a reference to two other wives of his (A serving girl named Supriya that was friends with Bhanumathi (who would be Duryodhana's wife), and a princess who is often given the name Padmavati). While some stories outside of the Mahabharata use other names, and since there is no true mention of them in the epic outside of folklore (to my knowledge) as Karna's wives (or a single wife as some stories paint him to be monogamous) are not given names. In Bengali folklore (where Karna is prominently apart of), he is usually attributed two wives. Padmavati comes from that folklore- though her place a princess wife was used in a story about Karna's wives (written by Kavita Kane, though she uses the name Urvi). There is thought that Karna had only two wives who were of similair class to him (an outsider king) with the princess-y name being a nickname for his first wife. I personally kinda like the three wives things, mainly just because I like having a lot of characters to use. Also makes the friggin 9 (or 10 in some sources) kids seem less painful. But if it is one wife, kudos to her. Sometimes there's also a fourth wife but I'm going to stop here with this note as to not overwhelm anything. I've got a story planned that can do that.
> 
>  
> 
> Alright now that that's over, get ready because the endings are coming! I will try to get them out very soon, I can not say just how fast but now that I do not have much planned I can most likely get them all out by the end of the week. Hopefully.
> 
> Also. Pro Tip: To get past all that ice sheet covered ground in Iceland, simply be 375% with the ice and it will not affect you. And get the Icelandic Meat Stew, it's fuckin delicious. Unless you're vegetarian, then get like some other soup.


	22. Route End - Siegfried

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _After suffering many, many minutes of Arjuna pulling at his hair while explaining his...extravagant plan for marrying Karna, Siegfried was sure he figured everything out. Arjuna had only asked for his help in getting rid of his other ‘rivals’. Then he would force Siegfried to give up on his desire in order to have Karna all to himself. He felt rather stupid for falling for the plan. Ah, this is what Astolfo called his ‘stupid blind charity’. He could be being lead to his death but if that person asked for his help he couldn’t just refuse. Hmm...He should work on that. It was becoming a little dangerous._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, I hope this is fine for an ending. It's really small compared to the last two chapters, but I don't want to put so much time between endings like those. If it makes it better, I am thinking of adding little extra things for the different endings so the shortness of them may be because I have more planned that I simply didn't want to put all in one chapter.

After suffering many, many minutes of Arjuna pulling at his hair while explaining his...extravagant plan for marrying Karna, Siegfried was sure he figured everything out. Arjuna had only asked for his help in getting rid of his other ‘rivals’. Then he would force Siegfried to give up on his desire in order to have Karna all to himself. He felt rather stupid for falling for the plan. Ah, this is what Astolfo called his ‘stupid blind charity’. He could be being lead to his death but if that person asked for his help he couldn’t just refuse. Hmm...He should work on that. It was becoming a little dangerous. 

“And to end it all-!”

Arjuna was cut off by Karna pulling on his ear roughly. He let go of Siegfried’s hair to try and pry Karna’s hand away. Siegfried was grateful for that, he had agreed to let Arjuna finish before he tried to retaliate. It was only polite. Yeah, he definitely needed to put a limit on what he would agree to. 

“I’m sorry Siegfried. I’ll have to speak with you later. Are you alright going back alone?”

“Ah, yes. Have a good night.”

He watched as Arjuna was dragged away, by the ear. Like he was some kid being punished by his mother. Which he might end up being if Karna’s slightly upset face was any indication. Though it wasn’t much of a change from his normal face. Siegfried sighed and began to walk back home himself. At least they got through the main part of the date without much incident. 

Silver lining Siegfried, silver lining. 

“Hey there Siegy.”

“I told you I didn’t want to be called that Blac- oh hey Merlin.”

 

“Why are you here?”

“Bored. Don’t tell my parole officer I’m here. She’s suuuuper pissed about something stupid. Probably the dead rat I left in her car next to the dead bird.”

“No, why are you still here? I’ve been waiting for you to leave for the past ten minutes.”

“Rude.”

“You’re on my porch swing and it’s midnight.”

“Alright, I lied. I left two dead rats in her car.”

He was going to be here all night, wasn’t he? Siegfried went back inside before coming out with two cups of coffee. He was going to need both for tonight and tomorrow. He sat down next to Merlin and listened to him ramble on. Huh, it was just like health class oddly enough. It was...strangely calming…….

 

“Yo, Sieg-a-friedy, got any more coffee?”

“F’ve more min’tes…”  
-  
-  
-  
When Siegfried actually woke up and checked if the school would be open today, he found it was still closed. Apparently, that maze had dangerous snakes in it and they had begun to breed. He made a silent decision to never get on Asterios’ bad side. He could tear him apart without much struggle if he got mad enough. He already accidentally tore through walls on good days. 

Merlin had brought him inside and was sitting across from him, drinking coffee with Sieg. Sieg looked as if he was trying to figure out how to kill himself with his shirt sleeve as Merlin continued to ramble on. How long had been this going on? 

Siegfried ushered the teacher out of his house, much to the relief of Sieg and Sigurd who was found hiding under the chair Merlin was sitting in. He had hidden there last night to avoid Brynhildr's sisters, only he got stuck and hadn’t been able to move until now. The two of them promptly went to sleep, leaving Siegfried alone to start his day. Well, at least there weren’t any scorch marks on the walls and floor like the last time the sister’s were after Sigurd. That had taken three days to clean.

He heard a knock at the door as he was washing the dishes. It was still a bit early, and the postman always came an hour after they left for school. By the normal schedule, they still had another 30 minutes before that. He put down the plate down and answered the door. Karna was standing there with a grumpy looking Arjuna next to him.

“Good morning, Arjuna’s come to apologize.”

Based off Arjuna’s expression, it was more likely Karna had driven him here to apologize. He stayed silent for a while, leaving his brother and Siegfried to simply look at one another blankly. They were both quite good at this so-called ‘waiting game’. Something mumbled came from the dark-skinned teen. 

“Speak up Arjuna.”

“I said I was sorry.”

He spoke facing away from both of them, so it was still a bit hard to hear. Arjuna did apologize, however, and that was enough for Siegfried. That probably said a lot about his standards. He gave a nod of accepting the apology, he wasn’t entirely sure what to say in return. Thankfully, Karna was a saving grace when he told Arjuna to wait in the car as he spoke to Siegfried about something real quick. He didn’t move at first but relented in his stubbornness when Karna gave him a disapproving look. A very disapproving look. After the teen was in the car, Karna turned back to Siegfried. 

“Is it okay for me to come by later?”

“Huh? Oh, sure. Come by whenever you like.”

Karna smiled lightly, standing on his toes for a few seconds to give Siegfried a chaste kiss on the lips. Just as quickly as it happened, it ended and Karna made his way back towards the car. Ah, had it really been as easy as that? 

Sigurd walked to the living room to find Siegfried smiling a bit too much for his normally flat face. He backed up slowly and went back to bed. He was definitely sleep deprived. Breakfast could wait until later.  
-  
-  
-  
It was around 5 PM when Karna knocked on his door a second time. Sieg was out with Jeanne at some small manga event while Sigurd was taking Brynhildr to a nice hidden meadow he had found running from her sisters. Siegfried invited him inside and offered some hot chocolate, it was pretty cold outside. 

Karna drank his hot chocolate as he looked through the books in Siegfried’s room. The two decided on a small little movie night and Siegfried was checking the movies available to watch. Maybe they could watch that movie Astolfo was in again...ah, still not available yet it seemed. That’s a shame, it was a good movie. Hmm...maybe something a bit lighter.

“Hey, what’s this?”

Siegfried turned around to see Karna sitting on his bed near the wall looking into a rather old looking book. If he remembered correctly it was a book of his father’s, but it seemed like Karna was referring to something inside the book. Since Karna had his back towards him, Siegfried had to lean onto the bed to see what he was pointing to. In a single fluid motion, he soon found himself staring up at the ceiling and Karna who was on top of him. How had he- the thought was cut off by a caste kiss like the one from earlier. 

“Ah, this is okay right?”

He simply nodded.

“That’s good, I wasn’t sure if that was a good idea. Krishna suggested it when I asked what I should do…”

“I see...what else did he suggest?”

Karna smiled, “Not much else, I can show you what Duryo suggested, however.”

The kiss was very much not a chaste one like the previous one. Not quite enough to be a french kiss, but not a light one either. Siegfried felt Karna push his bangs out of the way before leaning in closer again.

 

Ah, the movie could wait until later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If there are any mistakes please point them out, and if you think it's too short then it's fine for you to say so. I'll most likely edit in more later if I decide it's too short in general, so it may only be like this for a bit. Once again, sorry if it's kinda a lame ending, I'm not all that good with them...


	23. Route End - Arjuna

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Never let it be said Karna didn’t inherit something from their mother, their disappointed faces were nearly identical. The only ones immune to such a face were themselves, Arjuna and his brothers would crumble in minutes under that stare._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aka: This Is A Little Short But The Next Chapter Is An Extra Little Thing To Connect To This One So I Hope This One Is Acceptable.

Arjuna was still trying to pry Karna’s hand away from his poor earlobe when they arrived home. Duryodhana and Krishna still had the phone between them as they watched Karna drag his brother into his room. It was only after he closed the door did Karna let go of his ear. Anything he was about to say was cut short by his brother’s disappointed stare. Never let it be said Karna didn’t inherit something from their mother, their disappointed faces were nearly identical. The only ones immune to such a face were themselves, Arjuna and his brothers would crumble in minutes under that stare. 

It’s silent between the two. Arjuna is trying his best not to break under the stare, but even he can’t resist the growing pit of guilt in his stomach from it. Dear god, that stare was effective.

“I-”

“You’ll apologize tomorrow. Dinner will be ready in half an hour. After that, you’re going straight to bed.”

Arjuna mumbled how he wasn’t a child. He regretted that immediately at the narrowed blue eyes of his brother. He felt like he was that petty little kid who broke his brother’s toy out of misplaced anger once again. He hated that feeling.

The teen was expecting some sort of sharp-toothed barb directed towards him after that comment. But, it never came. Karna didn’t say anything to him as he left the room. His face returned to its normal blankness. No more annoyance. No more disappointment. No more anger. It was simply indifferent. 

 

Somehow, that hurt more than anything else today.  
-  
-  
-  
Aruna came by around 8 in the morning the next day. They never had a need for a car despite Karna’s license, the house was chosen to be in walking distance of many things deemed important. That and Aruna is simply an amazing driver. It wasn’t a surprise Surya had kept him around for so long- how long exactly was unknown and no one was about to ask.

Somehow the man already knew where Siegfried’s home was. Karna must have texted it to him earlier. Arjuna was restricted to either speaking to the other two people in the car or watching the homes and trees go by. Karna had confiscated his phone and laptop before he went to sleep, and Arjuna had no idea where he could have hidden them. After Karna had gone to sleep, Krishna had looked around for it. Sadly, he had nothing to show for it. 

He wasn’t interested in speaking to either right now. No, that was a lie. He wanted to speak with Karna, but he also knew Karna wasn’t interested in speaking with him until he apologized to Siegfried. If his brother was giving him the silent treatment, he could return it just as well. 

 

After begrudgingly apologizing to Siegfried, Arjuna was sent to wait in the car. Damn that disapproving look. He glared out the window at Karna’s back. Well, more like Siegfried’s face but Karna was in front. Arjuna gritted his teeth when he saw his brother stand on his toes and lean in ever so slightly closer to Siegfried. Damn bastard.

 

“Hey, mini Indra, hand me the legs next to you. Surya’s got a meeting and I need my secretary legs.”  
-  
-  
-  
Karna returned home at around 9. Arjuna didn’t have to already be jealous to know something had happened. He didn’t say anything, he simply left for his room. The covers seemed like a wonderful escape right now. 

He was confused when Karna sat down next to him on the bed. Even more so when he was pulled into a hug by his brother. Karna was still mad at him, right? Right?

“I know why Vrushali’s father got that promotion.”

_Fuck._

“Is there a reason you dislike those I like so much?”

“...You broke the promise.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

God damn wonderful idiot. Did he seriously forget the fact he agreed to that marriage promise? Of course, he did, why else would he be trying to date other people? Arjuna pushed his way out of Karna’s embrace, rolling over on his bed so his back faced his brother.

“Tch. You agreed that we’d get married when we were older, but here you are trying to get with other people.”

There’s something warm on his back after a long moment of silence. Karna’s arms bring him closer as he rests his chin on Arjuna’s shoulder. Arjuna wants to curl into the warmth but at the same time, he wants to get out of the grip Karna has on him.

“I’m sorry. I assumed it meant only when we were adults that we’d cross that bridge. I didn’t realize you meant it was from that exact moment.”

Arjuna is turned around in the embrace so his head was on Karna’s chest. 

“When you turn 18, and if I’m not in a relationship, we can discuss it more. Just be a kid a little bit longer, okay?”

The younger teen nodded, wrapping his arms around the other as well. Siegfried may have won today, but Arjuna was certain he would win in the end. After all, it was simply his nature to win. 

 

Of course, he had already waited this long, what’s another two years?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got the new Saber from the LB 3 pickup summon and I will grail him even if it kills me.


	24. SUPER SECRET MEGA AWESOME (not really) ROUTE END

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Arjuna yawned as he woke up. Krishna and Duryodhana had gone back home at this point- they both had school and Duryodhana’s siblings could only keep their school closed for so long before someone got suspicious. Granted, with 101 siblings that could take a long, long time. Krishna had to return because of testing, and no amount of charisma was getting him out of that. Hm, the house was quieter now though._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aka: That Is The Dumbest Title And What I Use To End This Is That Sad?
> 
>  
> 
> Ah, before the chapter starts, I want to thank every reader who came to look at this story. Especially everyone who commented, mainly because I simply enjoy talking to others and I can't often do that easily. I really want to thank D8ONO, just because this wouldn't exist without the ~~horror~~ story that is Beneath. Others I want to thank simply for commenting or liking the story are Icey399, VoicelessEchos, horrorstar100, Duora, AlreadyInTheDarkSide, Ayumi Sakurai (questofdoom), KisekiMa, and those 5 unknown guests.

Arjuna yawned as he woke up. Krishna and Duryodhana had gone back home at this point- they both had school and Duryodhana’s siblings could only keep their school closed for so long before someone got suspicious. Granted, with 101 siblings that could take a long, long time. Krishna had to return because of testing, and no amount of charisma was getting him out of that. Hm, the house was quieter now though.

Opening the door, he’s greeted by the smell of breakfast. Entering the kitchen, Karna is humming a soft tune as he fills the plates with pancakes. Doing a quick look around, Arjuna was very pleased he didn’t have to share them this morning. Or share Karna for that matter. He sat down and a plate was put down in front of him. That...that was not pancakes. That was one of Jalter’s new and rather explicit books. Charred as if someone tried to cook them despite it being very obviously not food. There’s a large stretch of silence before Karna speaks up. 

“If you want her books so badly, at least put down a different address. I did not need to see that with the bills,” Karna smirked as he continues, “And I certainly don’t need to know what comments you leave with them, Black.” 

The other teen clicked his tongue. “Haven’t even said anything and you already know who’s out.”

“Arjuna would have tried to defend himself the moment I put it down.”

Black nodded solemnly, he never got a chance to read the book. The pancakes made up for the missed opportunity though. He silently decided he should hide the books he had still in a new place in case Karna decided to look for them. 

 

Jalter found a large bag addressed to her on the living room table. It had a note attached it in very neat handwriting. What was odd was it had her nickname on it, usually, the mail had her real name on it.

_Dear Jalter,_

_Please stop sending these to my house._

_-Karna_

Inside the bag was every single book she had sold to her mysterious ‘B’ reader. Along with the charred remains of the most recent one. Good thing she made extra copies. Now how to get them to that reader of hers...  
-  
-  
-  
Some loud banging came from Siegfried’s front door. The three brothers exchanged a confused look before snapping their head towards the door as it was kicked in. Arjuna- no, that was Black who just kicked down their door. Arjuna would have simply broken in.

“Ah, fuck, that was harder than it looked. Whatever, not my problem. Siegy, my wonderful friend, have I heard some things.”

“For the love of god do not call me that. And what things?”

Black hung off Siegfried’s shoulder with a smirk on his face, much to the confusion and nervousness of the tall teen’s brothers.

“Oh you know, how you did a bit of crumpet.”

“What?”

“A bit of ‘How’s yer father?’.”

“Eh?”

“The good ol’ Bam-bam in the ham.”

“Huh?”

“Bisecting the triangle.”

“Still not following.”

“Making the beast with two backs.”

“Still no.”

“Feeding the kitty.”

“We don’t have a cat.”

“Giving the dog a bone.”

“Don’t have a dog either.”

“Makin’ bacon.”

“You heard we had bacon this morning?”

“Moving furniture.”

“We did move the chair over earlier.”

“Parallel parking.”

“We don’t have a car.”

“Playing with the box the kid came in.”

“Who keeps telling people Sieg came from a box?”

“Taking grandma to Applebee’s.”

“Our grandmothers are dead.”

“Rolling in the hay.”

“Don’t have any hay here.”

“Zig-zagging.”

“Yeah, I have no idea what you’re referring to.”

“Cattle-prodding the oyster ditch with the lap rocket.”

“What is a lap rocket?”

“Bow-chicka-wow-wow.”

“You’re just making noises.”

“Oh my god, You fucked my brother! There! Is that blunt enough for you?”

Sieg and Sigurd each did a spit take with their coffee. Siegfried, however, had his face turn red from the statement. He tried to move away from Black who continued to hang off him. He mumbled something under his breath that caught Black off guard. 

 

“What do you mean it was Karna doing the fucking?”

Both Sigurd and Sieg choked on their drink.  
-  
-  
-  
Karna answered the phone to find Siegfried on the other line.

“Hm, is something the matter?”

“Please tell Black to go home. He won’t leave.”

 

“Siegy, I’m not leaving until I get an answer.”

 

“Please Karna.”

“What is he asking?”

 

“Threesome!”

 

“Tell him no and that he’s grounded.”

After exchanging goodbyes and hearing Black yell about being grounded, Karna hung up. He put the plate of food in his hand in front of the guest in his house. The guest had a look of both disappointment and confusion in his eyes as he kept his face as flat as possible.

“Ah, do you need a glass of-”

“Karna stop giving me milk. We still have the most recent 3 cows you’ve brought over. I do not need anymore.”

Karna looked at Ashwatthama with a glass of milk in his hand. The other teen glared at the glass, ready to throw it out the window if Karna even so much as approached him with it. In elementary and middle school it was fine, it was not fine currently as he could, in fact, afford milk now. Nothing could convince him otherwise.

 

 

 

“Fuck it, give me the milk.” 

“Would you like another one?.”

“I hate you.”  
-  
-  
-  
Black was going to need a better plan. Since Arjuna’s plan has changed, so had his. It was the nature of things. Since his other half accepted that he would have to wait two years before acting, Black was now the one who had the wish to act whenever. Not that was too different from before, only now it was possibly a bit more pronounced. 

Or, if you asked Ashwatthama, way too pronounced considering how he was latched onto Karna’s leg gazing at one area a bit too much. That kid had always been weird but this guy was weirder. Then again, it wasn’t like he was fond of Arjuna normally so maybe he was biased.

 

No, Black was just weird. 

 

“Yo, why are you here ass-watt—Ow! What the fuck Karna?!” Black rubbed his head in pain.

 

“I was threatened.”

“You were invited.”

“ _I was threatened_.”  
-  
-  
-  
After Black went to sleep- read as: detained in his room under four layers of covers as to prevent him from getting up in the middle of the night- Karna fell asleep himself while Ashwatthama sat down in front of the bedroom door. He sighed as he rubbed his face, why had he agreed to Duryodhana’s plan? Karna could protect himself, why did he have to come over to watch over him? Duryodhana couldn’t do so due to an unfortunate set of circumstances involving being grounded after attempting to set a food truck on fire- actually he was trying to blow it up but the details weren’t important. Which meant Ashwatthama had to be pulled into this plan of his despite being very vocal about having other things to do. Damn his friendship with these two idiots. 

 

This was going to be a long two years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember how I said I would make little extras to the endings? And then the endings became connected and those small extras became connected and now I've literally got a part two in the works why is this happening I just wanted to make something to fight against the pain of Beneath whyyyyyy-
> 
>  
> 
> Ahem, so yeah. If you enjoyed this, there's going to be a part two. Which means I get to use plot points that didn't really show up here. ~~not going to stop me from getting to those other stories planned though~~
> 
>  
> 
> Also, this whole thing is like 161 pages long in the document I transfer it from and more than 55k words long on there despite it being like 45k words here. I don't exactly know how that happened and I'm afraid to look through it all to find out why.


End file.
